Portal: Beginings
by Dadles
Summary: Jack created a Portal and accidentally retrieved a fan from this world! What happens when Jack's new minion is smarter, faster, stronger, and just slightly insane?  Contest people!  Write a story and put yourself in it!  This is mine!  SO READ!
1. The message

**Okay, welcome to Portal. As a word of warning, it might be a little slow at first, but it wil DEFINITELY pick up, I promise. Feel free to create your own story like it. Basically, this is what happens when you put the fan in the story, the fan in question being me, since I know me best. I'm just gonna jump right in with the story and not take too long. This is a story for ME, starring ME and some characters from Xiaolin Showdown. Mainly Jack, since I now live with him. :D Remember the disclaimers and such, cos I don't own anything but me and Melody and Morgan and my own creativity. The names in this story are REAL and most events and flashbacks on MY part are completely almost accurate. I will let you know when I just made something up for the Hell of it. :D NOW ENJOY!**

Jack adjusted another knob on his machine. He had been building it for a month, working diligently despite the ghost witch Wuya's nagging to pay more attention to the mystical Shen-Gong-Wu. He couldn't stop; it was as if some godly force was making him do it. Once the thought entered his mind, it was impossible _not_ to think about it. He had done thousands of calculations, drawn up hundreds of plans and blue-prints, trying to make the idea a reality. And now finally, FINALLY! it was finished.

Jack stepped backwards and surveyed his work. The machine was tall, a mechanical archway built on a metal platform. It was supposed to function almost exactly like the time machine that Jack had built long ago. With the right calculations and adjustments (and a little luck), it would open up a transportal ANYWHERE on the planet! Hopefully. If it worked, _(IF!)_, Jack would be able to retrieve Shen-Gong-Wu within seconds of Wuya pinpointing where in the world it was.

Crossing his fingers, Jack turned the machine on. Immediately, it hummed to life and produced between its walls a pink and purple glowing vortex.

"Yes! So far, so good, Wuya. Whaddaya think?" Jack said cheerily. The ghost witch drifted over and said, "We don't know if it works yet. Test it, boy." Jack was about to reply, but at that moment, the machine's humming grew in pitch and a sound like a splash reverberated throughout the room. Jack watched a small white folded-up piece of paper flutter down to rest on the platform.

Eyes wide, Jack went over and stooped down to pick it up. He opened it.

_**Hello? Is there anybody on the other side of this portal? Um, you opened it in the middle of my room. If you get this, WRITE BACK. PLEASE!**_

Jack showed the note to Wuya with a grin.

"Don't need to. See? It works!" He went to his table and opened his notebook to a clean page. He wrote a message, ripped it out, and folded it up before tossing it into the portal. It made a sizzling sound as it passed through…

…and landed at her feet. 'Asta**(1)** bent down and picked up the folded piece of paper and opened it. Eyes wide, she read what it said:

_**Hi. There is, in fact, someone over here. I've been working on this machine for a while and I'm happy to say that it works! Sorry for invading your space like this. You can forget about this incident now; it won't happen again. Thank you for cooperating in this experiment.**_

—_**Jack**_

'Asta stared at the note. She wanted so badly to pass through the portal to the other side, but she didn't know what kind of place she'd end up in or the type of person waiting on the other side. She looked around her bland bedroom.

"Anywhere is better than here," she muttered bitterly. Sure, she was safe; she knew her house and her room. She had a roof over her head, the possibility for a good future despite the country's slow deterioration of society, and she was kept in a good home with food and family. She went to school. It was summer vacation now, but next year she would be in the 11th grade. She was supposed to be in 12th and be a senior, but she was held back in 7th. Her family would be camping on and off all summer, she was taking Driver's Ed, and she planned on getting a summer job to earn money.

She led a relatively decent life nowadays. But she didn't really like it. She was never invited to parties or get-togethers, she had backstabbing friends, she didn't have a job, hardly any money (that she had access to, anyway), her talents seemed wasted, and it seemed as if her life was going nowhere! Her childhood was a disaster and her teenage years weren't much better. She was anxious about her future and hated to think about it, but couldn't afford not to.

She wanted something better, something exciting! She wanted to travel to the different worlds she read about and become someone important. She knew she was extraordinary, now she wanted the chance to prove it. She wanted adventure, not the everyday blandness of the modern world. She wanted excitement! Not a boring day-job or a lazy summer day. There was a reason she loved storms and rain and the nightlife. It was something different from the norm. It was exciting and fun! She hated everything that was exactly the same as everything before it.

This was a shot at something new.

She scribbled something below what "Jack" had written and tossed it back through the portal. She grinned to herself. Finally, her hopes and dreams were being answered.

The paper came back and Jack picked it up again and read it:

_**Are you from a different world? You gotta be from a different world. NO ONE here can create portals and I doubt anyone would TRY. You got lucky; if you opened this in public, there would be LOTS of news coverage and stuff. I would prefer it if the reality of other planes of existence were to stay a secret. I don't want to have any other world ruined by my country's government. What is your name? First and last; Jack doesn't help me any. And how old are you?**_

"Interesting…" Jack mused. He quickly scrawled another message to the person waiting on the other side and sent it.

The note came back again. 'Asta opened it and read what it said. She gasped and reread the note to make sure it said what she thought it said:

_**I can vouch for that. I mean weird things happen all the time, only with magic. And I wouldn't want your government to ruin my world either. Government sucks. My name is Jack Spicer: Evil Genius. I am 16! What is your name and how old are you?**_

'Asta hurriedly wrote a response and sent it back. She then proceeded to internally squee while she dashed downstairs to her basement. She grabbed a couple of boxes and an old travel suitcase and hauled them all upstairs to her room. Her brother, Dustin, opened his door and poked his head out.

"Is he home?" he asked.

"No"

"What are the boxes for?" he asked, being nosey. 'Asta responded in a purposefully sarcastic manner, "A portal to the world of Xiaolin Showdown opened up in my room and I'm communicating with Jack Spicer. I'm gonna pack so I can walk through that portal and leave this place, hopefully forever."

"Nyaa. Bitch."

"Moron"

"Ass-monkey"

"Dick-monkey"

"Dumbass"

"Shithead"

"Bitch"

"You already said that, so shut-up."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!" Dustin started down the hall towards 'Asta's door. She quickly shut the door and pushed the handle in and twisted it. Dustin tried the door to find it locked and he heard 'Asta snickering behind it.

"Pussy" he muttered.

"Hippie-Hair!" 'Asta shouted gleefully through the wood. Then she flipped him the bird, because by routine she knew that he was doing exactly the same to her.** (2)**

She stood before the portal again to wait for another message.

Jack read the note with vigor. It occurred to him that he might possibly have an ally with which to use against the monks. The note read:

_**Jack Spicer? As in, THEE Jack Spicer? How do I know you're the real deal and not a fake? Because in my world, Jack Spicer has many fans. He's famous in Xiaolin Showdown fandom everywhere! He doesn't exist in **_**my**_** world, in real life; just in a TV show. Give me proof you are who you say you are. Describe yourself using visual terms. (And I'm 17!)**_

Jack blinked, confused. Fans? He believed from the 'Xiaolin Showdown' bit that this person knew him, but fans? Jack Spicer hadn't had a single fan in his entire LIFE! No one liked him…

But maybe this person _did_.

He penned a reply to the person on the other side and tossed the folded note into the portal.

_**I'm the only 'Jack Spicer' I know. You surprised me with the phrase 'Xiaolin Showdown'. I am DEFINITELY familiar with that term. To reassure you that I am who I say I am, I am a Goth boy with red hair, red eyes, white skin, black clothes, and black guyliner. (Are you a boy or a girl?)**_

'Asta read the note and shrieked with happiness. She giggled ecstatically and bounced with giddy excitement, before scribbling another reply and sending it back once more.

_**You've met most of the requirements. Jack Spicer also…**_

_**Wears:**_

_**Yellow vintage goggles with orange swirls on the lenses**_

_**A long, black, tattered trench-coat**_

_**A sleeveless red Frankenstein shirt under the coat**_

_**A sleek mark under his left eye made by his black guyliner**_

_**Jack likes to build JackBots, is in the company of a purple ghost witch named Wuya, and seeks world domination through the use of Shen-Gong-Wu. (I'm a girl, btw. Question: If you ARE Jack Spicer, are you just normally pale like you never go outside or are you really an albino? It was never outright expressed in the show, but most fans here assume the latter because of your red eyes. The hair throws us off a little, but people say you dye it.)**_

—_**A**_

* * *

><p>…<em><strong>Now that's just scary…<strong>_

—_**J**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>What is?<strong>_

—_**A**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>You've described me perfectly! And yes, I'm an albino. The hair just makes me a freak of nature. Mother and her fertility drugs… I've never dyed my hair. EVER. What about you?<strong>_

—_**J**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>I've dyed my hair 3 times. Naturally, my hair faded from light, caramel blonde to icky dishwater blonde. I hated it because it never looked right on me. The 1st time I dyed it, it was this obnoxious fuchsia color. It was <strong>_**supposed**_** to be red, but it wasn't the brand I really wanted and only semi-permanent. My friends made fun of me and called me Ariel until I beat the snot outta Jordan and convinced them all to stop. I re-dyed it after it all washed out. That time it was permanent and blood red, which was fun to use because Mom accidentally squirted me in the side of the head and it looked like she shot me and I was bleeding. My hair looked amazing! But it sucks that red fades faster than any other color, cos after a while my hair grew out more and the red was faded a lot. 3rd time I dyed it, I made it blonde again. I've always wanted to have platinum blonde hair, but it didn't work out cos we have city water and I needed a Malibu treatment. To get it as pale as I want it, I'll have to re-dye it the same color again. Now enough about hair. PLEASE let me come to your world!**_

—_**A**_

* * *

><p>…<p>

_**You know a lot about my world, right?**_

—_**J**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Duh. What <strong>_**don't**_**I know? I wouldn't know all that stuff about you if I didn't pay attention. What kind of fan would I be then, huh?**_

—_**A**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Okay, I'll admit that was kinda dumb to ask that. But you know all this stuff and you STILL want to come? Amazing. You're hired! You can come, but only if you're working for me.<strong>_

—_**J**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Wouldn't have it any other way. It's too hard to try and be good all time. And I don't think I'd be willing to hit you. Well, hard anyway.<strong>_

—_**A**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Cool. You can stay in my mansion and live here. You're sure to come in handy. I'll send a JackBot over to help you pack, 'K? (3)<strong>___

Moments after receiving the latest of the messages from Jack, a JackBot was portaled into her room.

"I can't believe it! A real JackBot!" 'Asta shouted.

"~Bzzt~ How may I assist you miss?" the JackBot intoned. It was floating so it was eye-level with 'Asta.

"Dustin! Come here!" she shouted. Dustin shouted down the hallway, "NO! Leave me alone!" 'Asta went and opened her door.

"But I have a real JackBot! In my room!" she hollered.

"I don't care about your damn fantasies! Moron!"

"Jerkoff!"

"Bitch!"

"Ass-crack!"

"BITCH!" he cried, more sharply.

"Oh, go to Hell!" 'Asta shouted. She shut and locked her door again, then turned to the JackBot.

She had already stuffed most of her clothes into one of the boxes on her bed. She had put photo albums into the old suitcase, along with her bed pillow and her pink blanket, Flopper and Gloria (2 stuffed friends from her childhood), and her slippers. The remainder of the clothes she planned to take with her were tossed into the second box along with 7 pairs of shoes, a binder, several notebooks, mechanical pencils, and other art supplies and writing utensils.

'Asta put her laptop into its neon-green travel case. In the front pocket of the said travel case, she stuffed her sketchbook, her three completed diaries, her current diary, several flash drives, some lip balms, a pair of black ear-buds, her MP4 Player, a few favorite necklace chains and charms, and a small, non-descript 3''-by-3'' flat box for good measure.

Now that everything she wanted to take with her was packed and ready to go, 'Asta ran through a list in her head to see if she was forgetting anything.

She had already emptied most of her closet and some of her dresser drawers; everything left was too small, outdated, or just wasn't wanted. She didn't need her make-up; she almost never wore any to begin with! (That didn't stop her from packing a small compact, a few shades of lipstick, and a small set of eye shadows, along with her three favorite nail polishes). There was still many objects left in the room. But 'Asta knew she could live without them. She had everything she needed. Almost.

"Oh shoot! Personal Items!" 'Asta said face-palming. It would be just her luck to start her period and _not_ have any products! She ran to the bathroom and grabbed a new box of tampons, her toothbrush and deodorant, then ran back to her room to pack them with the rest of her stuff. **(4)**

Slinging her laptop case over her shoulder so it rested at her hip, she picked up her suitcase and the smaller box. 'Asta turned to the still waiting robot and ordered it, "Pick up that big box and carry it for me, please." The robot did as it was told without hesitation.

"Wait!" she said at the last second. The robot paused. "I gotta write something first. Stay here and be quiet; I'll be _right back!"_ 'Asta dropped her boxes and ran to the kitchen with another piece of paper. She left a note on stove and went to go back to her room. She saw Dustin peeking down the hallway at her.

"Is he home?" he asked.

"No. Wanna see me off? You know, through the portal? This'll be the last time you'll see me." Dustin closed his door again and said, "Good riddance, moron." 'Asta smiled.

"Bye Dustpan! Tell everyone I hate them!" she shouted as she re-entered her room and picked up what she'd dropped before.

"K! I'll tell everyone you died!" Dustin shouted back.** (5)**

"Go through the portal and wait for me there," 'Asta said to the waiting JackBot once she was back in her room. It did as it was told and disappeared into the pink and purple mass swirling in the middle of the room. Just before 'Asta stepped through, she saw her step-dad's beat up maroon crap car start to pull up to the driveway. She smiled and shouted, perhaps for the last time ever, she wondered, "Rob's home!" before stepping into the portal and disappearing from the face of the planet.

Dustin slammed his laptop shut and ran down the hall and through the kitchen to the basement door. He threw it open and retrieved the broom and slammed the door shut. He paused in front of the rail on his way to the hall again, watching through the living room picture window as Rob's car finished backing into the driveway. Dustin darted into the hallway to begin sweeping as Rob climbed out of the car and walked back to the road to get the mail. Dustin kept his head turned to the right so he could see through his sister's window as he passed. However, as he shot past, he backtracked quickly and stood in the doorway, which 'Asta had left open in her hurry to leave. He stared at the pink and purple portal swirling in the middle of her room.

Rob walked into the house and went to the kitchen with the mail. Before opening any of it, however, he noticed the note left on the stove where he would see it. He picked it up and read it to himself.

He stormed into the hallway and saw Dustin standing there, staring into 'Asta's room. He pushed past him and into 'Asta's room, just in time to see the portal disappear in a blinding flash. He stood in the near-empty room in shock, the note 'Asta had left behind slipping between his fingers to the floor. Her last words…

_Dear Mom and Rob,_

_A portal opened up in my room. Naturally, this concerned me, so I tossed a note into it. Surprisingly, I got a response. The portal was to another universe, one that I happen to know very well. Forgive me, but I _**HAD**_ to take this opportunity. I've been wishing for something like this for so long, my heart ached. I'm finally going to the place I've wanted be. I tried to convince Dustin into seeing me off, along with the robot my friend on the other side sent over to help me pack. Dustin was more interested in his computer than in trying to stop me.__**(6)**__ Send my regards to everyone and don't wait up! And don't worry; PLEASE don't worry. I'm talking to you Mom. I love you, but it's better over in this other world. Everything isn't screwed up yet and they're more technologically advanced. I'll be happy here._

_Love,_

_'Asta_

**Thank you for reading the first chapter of Portal! If you stuck it through long enough, kudos! Now, about the bolded numbers...**

**(1): This is my real name. It is pronounced "****OW****-stah" I don't care who knows it, and you'll probably forget it in a few more chapters anyway. It is NOT staying the same.**

**(2): This was NOT exaggerated! My brother and I HATE each other's GUTS! We are regular cursers as well and I happen to pride myself the rather... **_**creative**_**... ways I can string together curses.**

**(3): And that, folks, is an example of the everlasting stupidity that comes with being Jack. :D Who just invites random strangers to their house to live with them? Oh yeah, Jack does! Sorry if it's not a smooth enough transition. I couldn't figure out a smoother way to make it happen. :/**

**(4): I know that it seems pretty damn redundant and stupid and TMI to put this little tidbit in the story, but trust me, it'll come up again later in the story. No, not for pregnancy. I'm gonna try and keep that OUT of here! But did you know that in certain cultures, a woman's monthly bleeding is considered powerful magic? That's why the men in those cultures keep women who are on their periods in one spot, doing nothing and within the men's sights. They don't want them to perform any seriously powerful magic!**

**(5): Sad thing is, he would actually say that if this scenario ever played out.**

**(6): This would've been just to spite my brother so he would've gotten in trouble as soon as Rob got home. :D I know, I'm a stinker.**


	2. Meet the Minion

**Welcome again to Portal! I am very happy that you have decided that I'm not completely retarded with writing and have continued reading. I hope you left a review; those make my day! Plus, I can gloat that people **_**do**_** like me and rub it in my stupid brother's face! Anyway, read on for chapter 2!**

Jack watched the JackBot come back through the portal with a large box. Following close behind the robot, there was a person, a girl, carrying another box and suitcase, and a bright green bag slung over her should. Jack didn't get a good look at her because she rushed away from the portal and quickly hopped down from the platform. She deposited her things on the floor.

"Hurry up and close it! My step-dad is _IN_ the driveway and on his way _in_to the house, and I'd prefer it if he and my stupid brother stay over in _that_ world thank you!" she yelled. Jack had to turn around to his control panel and hurried to shut the machine off. He flipped several switches and pushed buttons and finally he shut the thing down. The portal between the walls of the machine disappeared and the lair fell silent, save for the girl's panting for breath.

"That was close—shit, _NOW_ what's happening?" a female voice said. Jack turned and stared in shock. It seemed as if bits of the portal still clung to the girl. She was completely engulfed in pink, purple, and even bright blue. The colors were spinning around her and hiding her from view.

"This should be interesting," Wuya commented drily. She floated around to peer over Jack's shoulder.

* * *

><p>'Asta's mind was reeling. She was aware that things were changing but she'd never had this happen to her before. <strong>(1) <strong>All the colorful sparks swirling around her were making her dizzy.

She felt a prickling sensation all over her skin, making her shudder. The top of her head grew hot and the feeling trickled down the sides and the back of her head, too. Her eyes began to burn and her face was itchy. She wanted to scratch, but she was frozen; she couldn't move! It was hard to breathe, and several jolts of electricity shot up and down her spine numerous times. She couldn't even scream for the astounding pain that gripped her. A splitting headache made itself known and her teeth felt as if they were being ripped out one by one. Her bones felt hot, like they were melting.

When it was over, her legs refused to support her weight anymore and she collapsed, gasping for air. The light vanished and suddenly 'Asta could feel the cold concrete floor beneath her begin to sap her body heat.

When she had collapsed, Jack rushed to her side and helped her to stand. He kept a hold of her elbow while she rubbed her head, trying to make the memory of pain go away.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked. 'Asta nodded.

"I am now. That was…strange. And painful. What happened?"

"Dunno." Jack admitted. He let her elbow go. "You gonna be okay now?" He was secretly freaking out.

"Yeah, I am." At that moment, she spotted a full length mirror in the corner and saw her reflection. "No way…" she muttered. She walked slowly up to it, confused and cautious, as if it were dangerous. When she stopped in front of it, she had the barest of smiles on her face. She touched her cheeks with her fingertips, tracing her bones and the contours of her face.

She whipped around to face Jack, who came up behind her. "Is this trick mirror?" she demanded of him.

"No, why?"

"Because I've changed. I look different. I remember when I was younger, before I stopped seeing my dad, that I kinda looked like this. Only smaller and young.

Her eyes roamed freely over the reflection as she turned to it again. After spending most of her excessive free time with her mother and her mother's family, 'Asta had begun to lose her father's traits. She believed in the chameleon effect, especially when she had started to look more like her mother, something she definitely did NOT want. At age 17, she was already almost the spitting image of her. The only things different were her colorings. Her hair, her eyes, and her skin tones were the only things that had stayed true, although they had already begun to change. Particularly her skin.

Staring into the mirror, however, she was surprised to see her father's features writ there once more. Her face had been wide and blockish before. Now it was narrower and smoother. The shape of her eyes had also returned to that of which they had been when she was little. Big and beautiful.

One of the things that had constantly changed throughout her life had been the irises of her eyes. They had been hazel; they were still somewhat hazel. But throughout her lifetime, they had always shifted, from different shades of amber-flecked to dark shades of green-brown; they still retained the speckles of gold sprinkled within them. Later in life, they had brightened and shifted into a more noticeable green, if you happened to be looking at them and wondering what color they were.

'Asta squinted slightly and took off her glasses. Her eyes grew wide as the world came into sharp focus. No more slight fuzzy edges!

"Perfect vision? _That's_ new!" Perfect vision wasn't common on her mother's side of the family. Of course, maybe 50% of the American population wore glasses or contacts now anyway, so 'Asta had never really minded. Her glasses tended to help her hide when she wanted to, or make her stand out when she didn't. But they always cast shadows over her eyes. Now though, they stood out extra bright as the darkness was lifted and the world was no-longer framed in a little black box.

She looked in the mirror again and examined her eyes once more. They had changed like the rest of her. Whatever magic that had taken place had made them almost _glow_ with the bright energetic green that had filled them. The intricate swirls of her irises were outlined neatly in pale green and splashed with golden scraps of tincture.

Another thing she noticed was that her nose wasn't as wide as it used to be. Without her glasses, 'Asta could see that the small horizontal dent that had formed from wearing glasses for 12 years had gone, leaving the bridge of her nose straight and perfect. She could no longer find fault with it.**(2)**

Jack watched 'Asta inspect herself. He turned and ordered the JackBot that had gone through the portal, "Take her things upstairs to the left wing bedroom on the second floor. The one toward the front of the house. We'll be up later." The JackBot floated away with the box 'Asta had had it carry through the portal. Jack ordered two more JackBots to carry the smaller box, the suitcase, and the green bag to what would be 'Asta's room.

'Asta noted these things in the back of her mind and continued her inspection. Her upper retainer was hurting her. Making sure Jack didn't see, she popped out the top piece and the bottom piece and held them in her hand. The top was cracked and bent out of shape! She examined her teeth in the mirror. Having had to endure 3 years of braces and a pervy orthodontist,**(3)** her teeth were close to being perfect. Her mouth had been fixed and her teeth straightened. They had to be; $5,000 worth of dental work had better be worth _something!_ 'Asta shuddered. Now she had to wear retainers for 2 years to make sure the changes were permanent.

'_That's why my teeth were hurting,'_ she thought. _'They were being repositioned and straighten even more. 17 months of work done in 7 seconds.'_ The little ridges left over from when her adult teeth were coming in had gone away, leaving perfectly straight, sharp edges. Her teeth were also unnaturally white, like the models' on TV. 'Asta smiled. Her canines had grown sharp and pointed, returned to their former glory after their predecessors had been forcefully ripped out. They were one of the traits from her mother's side that she really liked, and it came from her mother's father's family. Vampire teeth, straight and sharp, gleamed prominently and proudly among a set of beautiful and now faultless teeth.

Next, 'Asta noticed her hair. To her dismay, she found that the dye had been cleaned out, but her hair was still different than what it'd been before. When she was young, as in, pre-school young, her hair had been a beautiful soft gold that glowed brightly when illuminated in direct sunlight. It was always smooth and shiny; she had baby-fine hair. Although it was difficult to style, it worked perfectly just lying down naturally. As 'Asta had gotten older, the color slowly darkened until it was caramel colored. It would still shine dazzling gold when in direct sunlight, but it was still not the same. Now it was. Her hair was still thick and long and straight, no style but its natural style of being wild-rolled-out-of-bed-yet-in-a-tame-ish-way-so-it-looks-amazing, but now the color was the same as it had been when 'Asta was a toddler, and not a dirty dishwater blonde that looked more like a brown.

She lifted a hand and touched her hair. It felt the same too! Smooth and soft… She brushed it every day, morning, noon, and night, and often times in between as well. It was hardly ever tangled; a perk of having her particular hair type.

Her skin used to be an Indian sort of tan. Her father's side of the family were part-Native American. She herself was part Indian. She had the same evenness in her skin that her father had had. While her father had darker skin than her, her's was pretty dark. And yet it was pale tan as well. She had always wondered why her skin used to seem like it changed colors. She had discovered that she was light-skinned around her father, and dark-skinned around her mother. 'Asta's mother had told he it was her imagination, that she had her father's skin. But after she stopped seeing her father's family as often as she used to, her skin had begun to lose her father's coloring. It was still there in her arms and back, but everywhere else had adjusted to match her mother's type of skin. Which wasn't good, in 'Asta's opinion.** (4)**

'Asta hated how red or pink or how purely pale and blotched her mother's skin sometimes seemed. Her own skin had begun to betray her by allowing these traits to pop up, particularly in her face. However, her skin had reverted back to its Native American roots, though still somewhat pale in that peculiar way it was before. In the dim light of Jack's lair, though, she still seemed to give off a golden sort of glow, if very faintly.

'Asta had her old face. That's why it had been so itchy and sore when the changes took place. Her mother's face was gone and she had her own face back. 'Asta almost didn't recognize herself at the first glance into the mirror. Her eyes were naturally big and her lips held no pout. Her face was more defined in this state, even though the last time 'Asta had worn this face she had been 9 or 10. It was almost the same; it had been aged to match the rest of her.

One of the things that hadn't changed on her face were actually two somethings. Her two beauty marks were still in their usual places: one on either cheek, evenly spaced from her nose, left mark slightly higher than the right. They blended into her skin a little more evenly, but they were still a medium brown.

'Asta stared and smiled. If she could see the image of her soul, she felt sure that it would look just like she did now. She looked exactly as she felt!

Her tummy was flat again; no slight awkward pudge or teenage hormones slowing her metabolism down. Her muscles were slightly more toned and firmer than they had been before 'Asta had grown less active. She was leaner and taller, her waist was slimmer. She had filled out and all the natural fat in her body had finally moved to all the right places. And she had proper muscle build!**(5)**

Among all these alterations, which only _she_ could truly see, 'Asta saw that while she had lost the diminutive amount of fat that had so stubbornly stuck around for the last 3 years, her bones didn't exactly jump out like they used to. She was still bony, but in a softer kind of way that was less noticable.

'Asta looked at her hands. Her fingers were tapered and straight, all except the pinky on her right hand. It still looked the same as it was. An injury long ago had rendered the digit crooked at the second joint, one up from the knuckle. Its current condition was permanent. 'Asta didn't mind though. She liked her scars.

And while she was thinking about it, 'Asta figured she'd better make sure they didn't all disappear. She proceeded to inspect her arms, legs, and the right side of her face.**(6)**

"What are you doing?" Jack asked, amused.

"I look like me again. I get to look the way I feel, and I get to keep my scars. Although they're a lot fainter than I remember, they're still there. I'm fine now. Thanks for the save!"

Jack smiled a little. "Don't mention it. I'd like to have a little help when the next Shen-Gong-Wu pops up. Um, what's your name? You never exactly said." 'Asta blinked and said, "I didn't tell you 'cos I don't plan on going by my old name. I'll make up a new one, I just gotta think." Jack shrugged.

"Sure. Whatever floats your boat." He beckoned for 'Asta to follow him and he led her upstairs.

The mansion was huge. Jack led 'Asta past the party hall, the kitchen, the dining room, the meeting hall, and several other rooms that 'Asta couldn't name right away, until they reached the foyer. 'Asta , always having an eye for art and architecture, stood in awe of the elegant room as Jack led her through the several rooms into it. 'Asta marveled at the many statues and sculptures, the many paintings adorning the walls, and the immense staircase that split off in two directions at the top, leading to separate wings on the first floor.

Jack took her up the flight of stairs, well aware of the girl's increasing joy at the beauty of the mansion. He smiled, warmth glowing in his chest as he thought about the ego boost he was getting. Truly, if the girl was so amazed by this 'mediocrity', she mustn't be too smart. _'Oh well,'_ Jack thought. _'The stupid were meant to be led, I suppose. It might be nice to have a stupid friend, though. Although I really hope she isn't a _really _dumb blonde...'_

Jack brought her to her room and opened the door. He glanced at her and froze. This was the first time he really looked at her eyes. There was something about the way she was looking around that intrigued him. Her eyes were not glazed over with the dull glass of ignorance and stupidity. There was a light behind those green eyes that darted everywhere and scrutinized all they lighted upon. And those eyes were focused, unwavering, on _him._ For just a split second, Jack was caught in the swirling eddies of harlequin, with pools of intelligence hidden behind the intensity of her gaze. The next second, she wasn't even facing him anymore, and was stepping into the room. Jack shook his head, trying to clear it of the questions that seemed to pop up out of the depths of his brain.**(7)**

When 'Asta walked into her room, she fell in love with it immediately. The walls were painted a sky blue and three sets of windows were set into the wall opposite the door. Centered underneath the middle window was a dark wood desk. Against the right wall, in the corner, was a single-sized bed with blue sheets and a navy comforter. On the other side of the room, in the left corner against the wall with the windows, there was a tall, empty bookcase. Set into the left wall, there was a closet. It didn't have doors; there was a curtain rod attached to the wall above it. Black lace curtains hung down, draped off to either side with silk black tassels.

'Asta walked into the middle of the room and slowly turned, looking around and admiring. In the left corner of the closet wall, a big plush armchair lounged angled toward the center of the room. Behind it, there stood a reading lamp, an arm extending directly over the seat. Beside the chair, a round antique side table stood faithfully, ready for use.

Jack watched her unpack. First, she emptied the suitcase. She pulled out three fabric-bound binders and set them on the bookshelf. She tossed the bed's pillow to Jack, who fumbled for a moment before holding it, and she replaced it with her own. The pillowcase on it _almost_ matched; it was horizontally striped with different shades of green and blue, with thin strips of white in between. She took a fuzzy pink butterfly-print blanket, folded it twice in half, and laid it across the end of the bed.

"What is _that_ for?" Jack asked. 'Asta smoothed out the blanket.

"Do you really want to get to know me or are you just curious?" she answered. Jack thought for a second. He know that she must know a lot about his world already. She claimed to be a fan of his. Both her knowledge and her loyalty would come in handy in his quest for world dominance. And also, she was the only person he could think of besides Wuya who wanted to be around him. It would be nice to have an actual friend for once.

"I want to genuinely get to know you," Jack answered honestly. "If you're gonna be staying here and working for me, I might as well, right? Especially if you're gonna help me take over the world."

"Right," 'Asta answered. Wuya floated through a wall to watch them. 'Asta sat on her bed with the suitcase. "I brought photo albums from home," she said, gesturing to the bookcase were the 3 binders were stored. "Memories are a person's greatest treasure." Jack nodded.

"And the pillow and blanket?" he asked.

"I find it harder to sleep without my memory foam. I think it is THEE best material to sleep on, and so comfortable." Jack and Wuya drew blank looks.

"Culture shock," Wuya muttered. 'Asta tossed Jack the pillow and he dropped the other one just in time. After giving it a few tentative squeezes, he laughed out loud.

"This is pretty cool stuff! We don't have this kind yet." he said, tossing it back. 'Asta replaced it on the bed.

"The blanket was a Christmas present from my dad. Since everything else my father has given throughout the years was confiscated and thrown out, that blanket is all I have.**(8)** It's one of the few exceptions to my hatred of pink."**(9)** She paused to make a face before continuing. "I have memories and photos, but it's nice to have something tangible to hold on to."

Next, she pulled our a little brown lump. It was limp and floppy, but the look 'Asta gave it was one of pure adoration. She straightened it out and Jack noticed that it had eyes and a face. There were four limp appendages attached to the main lump that was supposedly the body.

"This is Flopper. She's my stuffed dog. You can laugh all you want, Jack, but she's one of my prized possessions."

Jack, who was stifling his snickers rather unsuccessfully, asked, "And how did this come to be? It doesn't even look like a dog! It's more of a dead baby bear." 'Asta ignored Jack's laughter and mockery. She arranged her little dog at the head of the bed reverently.

"When I first moved into Coloma**(10)**, I got her for Easter. It was the first Easter in our new house and when I came back from my grandmother's house, she was sitting in a little basket on my headboard, waiting for me. I've had her from a very young age, and she's the oldest toy I have. I couldn't leave her behind. It would've felt like abandoning a baby on a mountain, or betraying a good and loyal friend who didn't deserve it." She then went back and pulled out a knitted doll. Jack groaned.

"And what is that?" he asked, laughter still in his voice. 'Asta scowled at him.

"This is Gloria. She was a keepsake from Iceland and I saved her from being sent into the dump." Jack took a look at the thing. She was wearing an old fashioned purple dress with white trim, ruffled in the back, and a purple bowler hat over dark brown hair. She had pretty blue eyes sewn into her face and full pink lips.

"I think that was a mistake on your part," he mumbled shrewdly. He chuckle at the glower sent his way.**(11)**

Wuya looked bored and frustrated. "Are you good or evil?" she asked bluntly. 'Asta paused in her unpacking, then answered, "It's not as strictly clear-cut in my world as it is here. We throw the term 'evil' around like it's a compliment, which, in my group, it is. **(****:D)** Being evil is a good thing where I'm from. It's kinda funny. I dunno. Lemme think on it. In the meantime, help me unpack."

Jack consented and opened the big box and started hanging up clothes. He made faces at most of the stuff inside.

"Dude, your wardrobe _sucks!_" 'Asta sighed, rifling through another box.

"I know," she groaned. "Mom _hates_ shopping for me. Every year, just before school starts, my brother and I each have only $100 to spend on clothes and shoes. I'm never able to get the things I want."

"And that is...?" Jack prompted. 'Asta wore a wistful expression on her face when she answered.

"My preferred style is Emo or Goth. Sometimes Scene, if I'm feeling like it. But I like anything dark and/or cute. As long as I'm comfortable and I look good, I'm cool. But black is preferred. Somehow, it seems to look better on me than everything else."

Jack suddenly jumped up and pumped his fists into the air.

"SWEET! Perfect opportunity! We can get rid of most of this stuff and get you something more tasteful to wear. You don't want to look like a slob in front of the monks, do you?" 'Asta drew her head back a little, clearly insulted.

"A slob?" she began, but Jack interrupted her.

"We can head over to the mall. I have money to spare. Heck, I'm practically _drowning_ in it!"

"My clothes don't make me look like a slob!"

"I know so many awesome stores that we can go to—"

"How do I look like a slob?"

Luckily, Wuya interrupted Jack before he could progress further in his frenzied rant.

"Jack!" she screeched. He flinched. "We hardly know anything about her. Don't you think you should take time to get to know her first before you try and get 'companionable' with her?" Jack opened his mouth to answer, but 'Asta spoke first.

"Look, if it makes you "feel better"," She made air quotes. "I can tell you _all_ about myself before you make any decisions." She leaned back with her hands propping her up on the bed. "So, what do you want to know first?" she offered.

"Your name," came the immediate response. 'Asta didn't like her real name enough to keep it in this world. She viewed this as a second chance; the choice to start over. Of course, she kept these musings to herself, but she still needed a name. But a name was an important thing. To have the ability to choose your own name was like choosing exactly who you are. Names and what they meant had always been an important thing in 'Asta's life. But right then, only two names would surface in her mind, so she was only allowed to focus on these.

In her head, she had two beings. You could say they were alter egos, of a sort, only they were real enough to be actual people. They were her voices; her good and bad personified. The combination of the two of them living inside her had become necessary for her own sanity, she knew. Melody, the good, and the heroin of all her fantastical stories and imaginings, made her strong of heart, made her feel loved, cheered her up, and gave 'Asta her hopes and dreams. She was an inspiration. And she was exactly the kind of person that 'Asta had always wanted to be when she was younger and more innocent.

But she wasn't. She wasn't really like Melody at all. Because is impossible for humanity to actually produce a Melody and you couldn't have Melody without Morgan. Morgan was her bad. She was created of darkness and evil, an opposite twin to Melody. In 'Asta's stories, they were Light and Dark incarnates. They were living representatives of _yin_ and _yang_. Melody was Good. Morgan was Evil. And just like the balance of _yin_ and _yang_, they could not exist separately on their own. So Melody was Good with a little Bad, and Morgan was Bad with a fairly generous amount of Good.

'Asta knew all this by heart. She knew that she created Melody from herself. But the old saying was true: The characters you create are real. Melody turned into her own person. She was born of 'Asta, but she was changed. Morgan, however, was _not_.

Morgan was created from Melody, sort of like a clone. They were twins, yes, and they both shared the same creator, yes, but Morgan was closer to 'Asta's heart than anyone else. 'Asta had been under Morgan's influence for a long time. She often felt Morgan surfacing in her actions, oozing up through her skin, overshadowing her and attempting to control everything about her. 'Asta knew it and had tried to resist her. She wasn't very strong, though.

Which is another reason that Melody was her idol. Melody saved her from being controlled by her own inner darkness. Melody saved her from going insane. She was still the person who protected and persevered.

So that's why, at that moment when her name was asked, and those two names were the only ones to choose from, 'Asta chose the way she did.

**End of chapter 2! Everything is true, including my chronic depression. Not joking. You can call me crazy if you want, but just know that insanity is a term of endearment, and not just among my friends; my family too! The crazies are fun, remember that. Now the numbers:**

**(1): DUH. I've had bees swarm around me like that, though. Still not fun.**

**(2): I'm very hard on myself and how I look. That's why I'm changing myself to look like how I feel I look inside.**

**(3): He was a MAJOR creepizoid! *shudders* If you live in berrien county in michigan, do NOT go to Dr. Bednar…**

**(4): She gets horrible zits and redness in her face. Yucky.**

**(5): HAH! In my dreams...**

**(6): If you really read all of that without clicking away from the page, I would gladly give you a cookie. If I had one. And was in the mood to share.**

**(7): I KNOW! Where the hell did **_**THAT**_** come from?**

**(8): I think the only reason it wasn't ever taken away was because it was a blanket and not a toy. I remember a lot of the things Daddy gave me: Piano, stuffed toys, books, jewelry, make-up, etc. I still don't remember what the hell I supposedly did to have my stuff thrown out. Apparently I was a very bad girl. Naughty, naughty, naughty. :D**

**(9): PINK IS EVIL! ! ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew...**

**(10): That's the name of my town.**

**(11): Hey! I'm defensive over my toys.**


	3. Hidden Talents

**Chapter 3 is up! Enjoy where I left off!**

* * *

><p><em>Melody saved her from being controlled by her own inner darkness. Melody saved her from going insane. She was still the person who protected and persevered.<em>

_So that's why, at that moment when her name was asked, and those two names were the only ones to choose from, she chose the way she did._

"Melody. For now, at least. Mel for short." she said. In her mind's eye, she could see Morgan pouting with her back half turned away, and Melody smiling and wrapping her arms around 'Asta in a warm embrace. She could almost feel the hug, and her arms warmed.

"Okay Mel. What are your views on robots?" Jack asked. The newly dubbed Mel turned her focus back to the real world and the question Jack had just asked. She silently reminded herself that Jack and Wuya wouldn't know that names meant a lot to her, and that she should stop thinking about it.

"Jack..." Wuya growled. Mel ignored her and answered quickly.

"They're cool, as long as they don't glitch or do something stupid. I'd actually like to learn robotics, but it's something I can't learn on my own, and I don't think I'd be very good at it anyways.**(1)** In my world, technology keeps improving, constantly advancing. The focus has shifted from robots to daily items and things we could use. Mostly phones and toys. I think the Japanese are the only ones who still might be interested in robots, but I'm not sure."

Jack seemed to take this answer with good grace. Now he asked, "What are your views on Good vs. Evil? And what side are you on?" Mel chose her wording carefully as she answered.

"I don't think it's so strictly defined. Good and Evil reside in the minds of the people. They are concepts; nothing more than illusions. They don't truly exist. At least, not in my world." Mel said. "I am aware that things are different in this world. Good and Evil aren't simply concepts here. They're teams; Xiaolin and Heylin. There are actual gods in this place who are in charge of such things; they're not myths or beliefs. I know Good and Evil exist here.

"As for my position? It's hard to say. I know that I go both ways in this regard. I can be selfish and petty, sometimes. I know I am sinister. I'm malicious and mean, and brutal, and hateful. I have the most sadistic of urges, and I know that part of me is truly Evil." In her head, Morgan sneered and whispered, _"What sort of evil are you that you won't even embrace its name?"_ 'Asta answered back, _"To accept your name would be to forfeit myself into submission to you. It would give you power over me and allow you to start over with taking control of my body. I wasn't even aware that you could poison me like that in real life until I actively fought against it. I accepted Melody's name to protect myself from you. I wanna be my own person, and no one will be able to influence my decisions unless I allow them to. I'm not making the same mistake again."_

In truth, she didn't lie when she said that a part of her was truly Evil. She was talking about Morgan. Whether or not she was protected against the internal seductions of the personality, the fact remained that Morgan was a part of her, and ingrained into her soul. But again, so was Melody.

"But I also know that I have Good ingrained in me as well," Mel continued aloud. "I know I have love and compassion. I know honesty and truth. I practice temperance. I'm charitable. And I'm kind. I know that these aren't evil in the slightest. Because part of me is also Good."

At these words, Mel felt her new namesake stir within her, and felt a glowing begin in her heart. She struggled to quell it down, and managed it without changing her outward appearance.

"I believe every person in the world has the capacity for good and the capacity for evil; I have both. I have a Good personality and a Bad personality. It depends on how I feel and what's going on around me, where I am, and who I'm with. So I consider myself neutral in most cases." Jack stared at her and gripped his chin.

"So… What exactly does that mean?" Jack asked her. She had been hanging up her laundry by herself as she was talking; now she was done. She took off her sweatshirt and bared her arms, then tossed the garment onto her bed. She faced Jack and propped her hand on a cocked hip.

"Let's put it this way: If the Xiaolins had brought me to this world, I'd be indebted to them and I'd serve with them. It wouldn't suit me at first to do so, because I'm more selfish than they would like, but I'm impressionable and they'd rub off on me eventually. My better side would evolve more and it would show. I'd still be nice to you and try to pull my punches, cos I like you and admire what you do, but there isn't anything I could've done had that scenario happened. I still would've had to fight against you.

"But since _you_ brought me here, I'm on _your_ side. It suits me better because I wouldn't have to pull my punches and I hate holding back. On this side, there are no rules or obligations. There's still an honor code of sorts among villains, of course, but, eh. I have my own rules that I'll hold myself to, still, but I'll cope a lot better being with someone like me." She grinned toothily. "I'm a "first come, first serve" kinda girl, Jack. Now I serve you."

Now Jack grinned.

"I think she passed, don't you Wuya?"

"Impressive. I find no fault with her logic, even though I'm disappointed that she's still in tune with her sense of Good." The ghost witch turned to Mel again. "Do you think you're dedicated enough to serve on the Heylin side?" she asked.

"Didn't I just say I was? I'm loyal to Jack now; I won't be leaving this side unless he orders me away or until he switches sides. And I can't see him doing that anytime soon."

"Wuya!" Jack shouted. "She's the perfect minion! Now that we've determined that, we gotta help her look the part, so can we _please_ go shopping now?" Jack pleaded.

"Hold on, Jack. I'm all for the whole shopping bonding experience but at least lemme finish putting my stuff away." Mel said. Jack excited expression deflated a bit.

"Can't it wait until after we get new clothes?" Jack asked impatiently. Mel laughed.

"The mall isn't going anywhere, Jack. And I'd rather finish up before I forget." As an afterthought, though, Mel worriedly said, "The mall _will_ stay put, right?" Jack shrugged and turned around and left. He called over his shoulder, "Come meet me when you're ready."

Wuya observed the girl before her. It was faint, but she could sense an otherworldly aura around the girl. Most likely residual energy from her original world. Wuya thought dismissively.**(2)**

She was mortal and at least somewhat average. But there was something... off. Wuya couldn't put her finger on it (even if she had any), but the girl was... strange. And not just the way the air felt around her either. It had something to do with her appearance as well.

Wuya couldn't help staring at Mel's legs. They were pretty exposed, as the girl wore extremely short shorts. On the right leg, along the side of her thigh, were several scars. They were very small, and circular, so that they looked like pock-marks. On the front of the limb, just below the knee, the skin was mottled and distorted in another pale scar. The knee on her left leg had several smaller versions along the top and sides of it. Along both her shins, Wuya saw strange-looking scars littering the skin close to the bone on Mel's legs. And on the side of the left calf...

"Child, what is wrong with your legs?" Wuya finally asked. Mel looked down at her legs with a curious expression.

"What, you mean my scars?" she asked, looking back at Wuya. She turned to face the ghost witch fully. "They're scars. I don't remember exactly which ones I got when or how, but the gist of it is bug bites, bite marks, rough-housing, wipe-outs, and accidents." She sat on the bed and pointed to a few marks. Wuya hovered closer and saw that the marks along the bone had the distinct shapes of human teeth. She recoiled. Mel ignored it and continued.

"I was told that when I was littler and going back and forth from my Grandma Vicki's, my little brother Dakota, who was a little monster, decided that I was his favorite chew toy. He drew blood several times and always told people that I bit myself. Since he was the darling of the family at the time, and I was the child that no one knew my dad had, I was mostly blamed for everything and Dakota got away Scot-free. My mother was furious and doubted what they all said and she was proven right when I came home with giant bloody bite marks on my shoulder. They had to admit that I couldn't bite myself there, so the truth eventually came out. But I still had to keep the scars. I myself have no memories of any of that stuff, so I can only go by the story told to me."

Wuya avoided looking at the four vicious markings on the inside of Mel's calf. Mel noticed and slowly traced the scars on her leg, following the sharp, jagged edges and running her fingers across the dips in her skin.

"I got these last year. We went to Sterling State Recreational Park, and they have an old concrete pier there, way on the other side of the park. There're tons of huge rocks and boulders. I like to climb on them, to get to the old abandoned structures on the far end. They were built for the protected area for wildlife. Anyway, I was climbing on them, and I was maybe about halfway across, when I slipped." Wuya cringed to hear to story told. The girl's voice... It seemed to bring the memory to life as she thought it. Wuya could almost hear the waves crashing all around and feel the gritty surface beneath her feet. She even began to feel a phantom pain, even though she currently had no legs.

"I didn't see my brother anywhere when I got to the end of the pier, so I didn't expect him to pop up out of nowhere while I was on the rocks. The one I was on and the surrounding boulders where covered with gritty, sandpapery, and rough cement. I think a bag must've broken when they built the place and covered that group of rocks. It made them jagged and I tore up half my leg when Dustpan startled me and I slipped. I remember crying and screaming at my brother about what an idiot he is and why does he feel the need to be an annoying brat and was he trying to kill me? He helped me climb back to the pier and he walked my bike home for me.

"A few boys who were fishing on the rocks below the pier watched me as I left and one offer to help me. They both thought all the blood covering my leg was really cool but scary. So I let them clean up the blood and one of them escorted me back to the campsite and I got my leg bandaged."

Mel got up and stretched. "At school during gym, I would catch a bunch of people staring at my leg. It's always cold in there at the beginning of class, until I warm up. They turn purple when it's cold, so people stare at them."**(3)** Mel picked up her sweatshirt and Wuya forced her mind away from the scars decorating Melody's legs.

"You know the funny thing though, Wuya?" Mel asked. Wuya sighed.

"No."

"We had just come back to Michigan from Kentucky visiting my aunt. By the time we got to Sterling, my face was almost completely healed." Wuya's interest was piqued again.

"Your face? What happened to your face?" she asked. Mel pointed to her right cheek. Wuya hovered in close, seeing the pale, pale, barely there markings and the discreet dented scar carved into the girl's face. Mel spoke again.

"While we were in Kentucky at my Aunt Laura's house, I was playing outside with my cousins."

"A nice change of pace from what Jack usually does, to be sure." Wuya muttered.

"We were playing hide-and-seek-tag, and the tree in the front yard was Base. I was running from the backyard into the front. I was wearing cheep flip-flops and as I was running, the toe strap broke and I lost my balance at the same time. I tripped over an extended tree root and fell face-first into the tree and scraped half my face off. It was bleeding and it hurt and I went inside and showed Mom and the rest of the adults. Then I had to clean it up and it stung like a sonuvabitch with rubbing alcohol. And to add insult to injury, my family kept cracking jokes about being a tree-hugger. Mom even took pictures of that side of my face and posted them on FaceBook!"**(4)**

"FaceBook?" Wuya asked. Mel looked sheepish for a second and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot. This world probably doesn't have FaceBook. It's a networking site, to keep in touch with family and friends."

Wuya thought on these things as Mel continued with her unpacking. So far, she knew that the girl knew at least a little philosophy. She was smart, although Wuya couldn't figure out _why_ Mel would want to work for _Jack_ of all people. Wuya herself had realized within the first few days of being free that Jack was an idiot and almost worthless. What could Mel see in him? Better yet, what did Mel _know_? She was from a different world; she knew things that Wuya did not know yet, because of the world she was from. And what did she mean by being a 'fan' of Jack?

Moving on, Wuya also realized that Mel was a rough-and-tumble girl. She didn't seem to care about getting hurt; she seemed to rather enjoy having her scars. She played outside and looked like she exercised a lot. She was...healthy. Healthier than Jack by a far cry.

Thinking about her personality, from what little she'd seen so far, Wuya decided that Mel was a generally happy person. Which might mean that she'd be easier to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

_Fump!_ A thick notebook hit the carpet floor and fell open. Mel was almost done packing and it slipped out of her bag unnoticed. Wuya floated above it and peered at the open page. A sketched drawing of a girl caught between floating and falling in the air is what Wuya saw. Her ghostly eyes ran over the contours and the curves that shaped the body. An apron over a long skirt, the folds and layers of fabric were frozen in place. The woman's hair floated upwards, her head tipped lightly back and to the side. Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping. Her back was slightly arched, her arms and legs aloof. A long scarf was caught on the edge of being buffeted by the wind. Or the force of the fall. Wuya was impressed at the artificial beauty.**(5)**

"You drew this?" Wuya inquired. Mel looked down and saw the open sketchbook.

"That? Yeah, I drew everything in there." she said. She bent down and picked it up, dusting it off slightly from the grubby carpet. Her face screwed up as she thought, 'This place needs a good cleaning.'

Mel flipped a few pages in the sketchbook. She sat on the edge of the bed again and held the book open for Wuya to see the drawings. She didn't stop at any particular pages, just flipping ahead, apparently knowing exactly where everything was. She turned over a few more pages.

The last four pictures really caught Wuya's attention. Mel paused.

"I did candid sketches of some of my classmates in school. This one in the top right-hand corner is Matt Greco. He sat in my Biology class last school year. The girl here is Sam Robinson. I sketched her in Biology too. Cala Owen and Macey Barton moved too much in Art while they were working on their projects, so I wasn't able to get decent sketches of them in these last three." Mel pointed to each picture she was talking about as she spoke.

"They look real," Wuya rasped. "Not like the childish cartoon drawing Jack does." Mel turned the page.

"Cala's face looked like a fae imitation of her, which inspired me to draw this." Mel said. On the page was a picture of a fairy girl with her arms out, balancing as she tip-toed across the length of a branch. The branch in question was only roughly outlined and left unfinished, unimportant compared to the real drawing.

"I'm not as good with cartoonish characters as I used to be; my style has evolved enough where it's somewhat difficult to draw without looking at something to base the drawing on. That's why I'm better at realistic drawings now. I'm still pretty decent, though. This is good, even for me." Mel continued. She turned the page again. The drawing at the top was obviously a failure. It was labeled as such.

"I tried to draw a candid of Nick Cobb during History, but he never sat still long enough for me to decently do anything. I remember, I tried to make do with each new position to try and calculate what he'd really look like should he shift anymore, but the bastard got up and moved to the other side of the classroom." Mel scowled at the memory. Wuya read the label Mel had attached to the picture. At the top, it said, "Abstract-ish". The actual failed drawing took up the top third of the paper. Below it, more centered in the left-over 2/3 portion of the paper, was a detailed, flawlessly drawn portrait of a girl with her hair pinned up. It was a side view, so Wuya couldn't see the girl's entire face; just the left side. Her eyes were cast down, concentrating on something below, not drawn in the picture.

"That's Natalie Combes. She's pretty neat. I like her. She's funny, smart, popular (in a good way), nice; she's an all around good person. I know I'm supposed to be on the side of "evil" now, and that'll be easier because it's part of my nature, but I can't help liking the good people. The decent ones are always so hard to find. Anyway, she was doing the book work that Mr. Bragg assigned, and I was bored and frustrated because of Nick, so after he moved, I asked Natalie if she minded if I drew her. She let me, needless to say, and I was so happy because it turned out great and I got to show it off." Mel flipped to the next page.

The page was neatly divided into two horizontal halves. Centered in the top half was the profile of a boy, obviously in his teen years, with an obnoxiously ugly face, horridly nappy hair, fat, bulbous eyelids, and the word 'Dustpan' written next to it. Underneath the word in parenthesis, 'Dustin' was written. Melody made a face, as did Wuya, who recoiled just a little.

"_That_ is my stupid brother. His name is Dustin, but I call him Dustpan, or Sunshine, or Hippie Hair. Aunt Pam or Uncle Gary, I can't remember which, came up with 'Dustpan'. Mom's called him 'Sunshine' forever, since we were little. I came up with 'Hippie Hair' when Dustin decided it was 'cool' to let his hair grow out to the point where if I ruffled his hair, he'd have an afro. He used to be called 'Fagnew' at school by Eddie Craft, but it stopped when Eddie was expelled for fighting. Anyway, Dustin was playing his stupid Miscrits game on his laptop when I drew him."

"I detect distain in your voice," Wuya subtly coaxed. Mel took the bait.

"I hate him. If it weren't illegal, I'd have killed him already."

"Why didn't you?"

"Augh, I'm terrified of prison. I don't want to go to jail and spend life behind bars, unable to do the things I want. It would've affected my whole life. And I doubt I'd be able to get away with it." Mel scowled. "I can't stand him! He's an enormous ass and a stupendous idiot. I could literally go all day about him and verbally bash him to bits, but it'll get me riled up and I'd be getting even more pissed off by the second. And that puts me in a bad mood."

"That sounds like a typical sibling rivalry to me." Wuya commented dryly.

"Not even close," Mel countered. "More like doing-the-world-a-favor-by-killing-him-but-can't-cos-the-world-is-stupid-like-that-and-I'd-get-in-trouble. I hate him and just thinking about him makes me seethe, so I'm gonna stop." Mel gestured to the bottom picture.

There was a girl lying comfortably on her stomach on a train bench. One foot lay straight out behind her while the other was kicked lazily in the air. She lounged gracefully with her head upon crossed arms, leaning on the arm of the bench. She wore a dark colored jacket, presumably black, and she appeared to be wearing a dress underneath. She gazed demurely and maybe a little coyly to the side. Two suitcases with a folded newspaper lain across the top of one of them stood off to the left of the bench.

"That's me. It was freezing cold that day. Mom had this project for college that she was doing, and she was in a Photoshop and Photography class. So she was doing 'Trash the Dress' as her theme and used me as her model. We went to the train yard behind the train museum and it was cold and windy. We took about 140 pictures and then went home. This is the drawing of one of the award-winning photos that Mom took. She made some copies and gave them to me." Mel stood up and went to the bookshelf and brought back an album to show Wuya the original picture.

"Maybe I can show you the rest later Wuya. Jack's taking me shopping, and he's probably waited long enough. You should come; I might need another female's opinion." Wuya was flattered to be invited, even though she planned on coming along anyway. She followed Mel downstairs, chatting idly about some of the things Jack has done and they swapped stories about what it was like in their own times and such. By the time they met up with Jack, who was in the basement, the two were getting along famously. Wuya was thinking that Mel would be the better minion between her and Jack, but held out the hope that maybe Mel might be able to make something of Jack.

'_After all,'_ she thought. _'Two minions are better than one! I won't just have to settle for one thing only; I'll actually have a choice.'_

**Hope it was good! Now the #'s...**

**(1): I took a robotics class in junior high and we had to build robotic cars from lego-like pieces. That was easy. The hard part was programming. I tried to program my car to count strips of tape as it passed over thing... Epic fail.**

**(2): Never dismiss anything of the supernatural, Wuya. You should know better than that…**

**(3): When I got cold like, REALLY cold, my skin turns a purple-ish color and a lot of my scars get REALLY dark. It's creepy and just a little gross. Of course, it happens less and less when my scars start to fade.**

**(4): It sucked going to stores after that. People kept staring at my face.**

**(5): See the picture here: http:/ / dadles . deviantart . com /gallery/#/d3jzwtl**

**Most of the pictures I described, I haven't put on my DA account. No scanner, sorry. But they are a helluvalot better than the one picture I've provided a link for. If you want to look at the rest of my art or keep up with what I'm doing, I'm at dadles . deviantart . com**

**Without the spaces. Thanks for reading!**


	4. What's in a Name?

**Chapter 4! Shopping time! New name! Introducing Fanfiction stuff and fandoms to Jack! His reaction! ****READ!**** XD**

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><p>Jack was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Mel and Wuya. When they came and found him, they climbed into the jet and Jack took off. Mel was barely buckled before they were launched into the sky. She 'eeped' faintly as she was jolted.<p>

To fill the silence, Jack asked, "So, Mel, tell me a little more about yourself." Mel looked startled for a second.

"You know, I'm not sure about the name 'Mel' anymore. I don't think it fits me well." She had started to regret taking the name. After all, it wasn't hers; how can she be her own person when she didn't even have an original name?

"Then pick a new one or go with your old one," Jack stated simply. Mel thought a while.

"You know, my friend Taylor let me borrow a baby name book to look at. It just occurred to me that I never brought it with me." Jack was silent. He tried to think of a reason why she'd borrow the book and why her friend had it in the first place. Wuya found her voice first.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked. Mel smiled.

"Because it has at least 100 girl names I could choose from. I want a name that sounds close enough to my real name that I'll recognize it immediately but different enough that no one will be able to guess my real name, though I doubt anyone would anyway. I need a name that describes me or my personality, sounds good, and is unique to me. The great thing about that book is that it lists 100 girls' names and 100 boys' names, provides their origins, what they mean, and any mythological, biblical, or literary references there may be pertaining to a particular name. If I had it with me, I could just write down a list of names that appeal to me and choose from them."

"Okay, I understand that part. Now, mind telling us why you and your friend had the book to begin with?" Jack requested.

"Taylor found it in her house. Her parents used it to name her. Recently though, her boyfriend has been really creepy, in my opinion, and they were deciding what to name their kids when they got married." Mel paused for a moment to shudder.

"What, don't like kids?" Jack smirked.

"No, I do, to an extent. I just can't stand the thought of having my _own._ I mean, seriously? Do I really want to spend 9 months being fat and irritable and extra emotional, exceedingly bitchy and hopped up on hormones? Personally, I _don't_ want to push a freakin' kid outta my business. I don't want to spend the next few years changing diapers, feeding it mush, and waking up at the most _ungodly_ hours just to comfort the damn thing. Not to mention all the extra stuff you have to buy, like toys and baby-stuff, and potty-training. Ugh, I remember when Dad and Gina were trying to potty train Landon, and then later Christopher, and _then_ Bethany. Total nightmare having to listen to little kids cry because they wet the bed instead of getting up and using the bathroom. And then there's bills and school and daycare and careers and babysitters. The lists go on and on, Jack! I can handle someone else's kids. I can handle babies; as long as they're not mine. Uh-uh, no way! I told all my friends and family that the day I decide to "have a family"—" Melody made air quotes. "would be the day I've quite officially gone insane."

Jack laughed at the expression of disgust that grew on Mel's face as she ranted.

"Yeah, me too. I don't understand why people would want to go through all that."

"Well, for obvious reasons, they want a family. But in some cases, I think it's because they don't know what the Hell they're getting into or they don't give a damn either way. They want a kid? Fine. Be my guest, I don't care. I honestly don't see how Taylor would put up with that shit from her boyfriend. Although, she's almost as bad. I never got to meet the actual boy. But she talks about them doing it, like, every week! Total eww!"

Jack blushed and shifted uncomfortably at Mel's casual mention of "it". Melody continued, oblivious to Jack's discomfort.** (1)**

"Anyway, we were in History class and Taylor let me look through the book. I was really interested in the meanings and origins of the names. My math class and I had _loads_ of fun looking up each others' names and reading them out loud. Josh Jobe's names are all Hebrew, so he was pretending to be Jewish and saying stuff with all sorts of innuendos, like 'Let me take you to my promise land!' and such. He acts totally retarded sometimes, but he's funny as all hell! I kept the book so I could make names for characters I create in my stories."

This peaked Jack's interest. "You write stories?"

"FanFiction," Melody replied stiffly. She said nothing else and looked out the window. She didn't want to tell Jack about FanFiction. She knew all sorts of stories on the site that would make Jack gag if he read them. Just from spending this short amount of time with him, Melody could safely venture that Jack was straight and not in any way _at all_ gay. Which was sort of a problem, seeing as the majority of Jack Spicer Fanfics were slash. Yaoi. Shonen-ai. Mel's _favorite_ reading material.

Jack however, couldn't read Mel's mind to know these things. So he asked her, "What is FanFiction?"

"I'd rather not say…" Mel said slowly. Jack nudged her with his elbow and grinned.

"Is it _naughty_?" he asked, drawing out the last word playfully.

"No," Mel said, drawing out the word as well, smiling. "Well, it depends on what you're reading, I guess. Adult FanFiction is _exceedingly_ naughty! But FanFiction is just a place where people can make up stories about characters from their favorite books or movies or TV shows. They have different categories and such for whatever medium of entertainment floats your boat. Mine is mainly cartoons. I like reading Fanfics of my favorite characters and taking place in a familiar environment, which is usually the characters' home world. I think it's kind of educating, too, I guess. I get to see the different styles that different people write in."

"So what do you usually read?" Jack asked. He was genuinely curious.

"It depends on what I'm obsessing over at the time." Melody answered. "Most times, it's either Invader Zim, cos he's awesome and epic fail at the same time, along with his enemy Dib, so they make the best slash ever, and Xiaolin Showdown, which is what started off all my hopes and dreams."** (2)**

Jack started. Wuya whipped around to face Melody.

"Really? Do tell!" she rasped. Melody looked uncertain and deftly avoided answering.

"Look, I consider myself mostly neutral watching the show and reading the fanfiction. I hate how the villains were portrayed in the show and I especially hate how some of the best writers on FanFiction bash the Xiaolins and make them look like the bad guys."

"I might like this site!" Jack crowed.

"No you wouldn't," Melody sighed in a sing-song voice. She grinned evilly for a few moments before elaborating. "Most of the Fanfics I read are romances. And since there are _plenty_ of characters in the show, there are also _plenty_ of pairings to go with. There are too many fangirl freak fanatics out there to stop the really weird pairings, but there is a big enough fan-base behind certain slash pairings that they're almost legit."

"Oh yeah? Like what? And what is 'slash'?" Jack asked. Again, Mel looked uncomfortable before she spoke.

"Promise you won't get mad? Because I'm telling you, right now, that you aren't going to like any of the pairings. Most of them revolve around you."

Jack made a face. "Why?" he asked.

"Duh! Because you're the favorite! The darling of the show! Fans everywhere would seriously _kill_ to meet you! To be honest, I'm half convinced I'm having a lucid dream here! But they would be trying to pair you up with whoever else their particular fandom revolves around."

"Just tell me and get it over with." Jack sighed. Melody sighed as well.

"Okay, starting with some of the less freaky and more normal pairings; Raimundo and Kimiko."

"Typical."

"Jack and Kimiko"

"What? How?"

"There _is_ an overabundance of male characters in the show, so the normal-ish pairings can be any of the many guys with any one of the very few girls. And that particular pairing is mostly due to the fact that at many points in the show you can be a real flirt and one time you actually kidnapped Kimiko to repla—ACK!" Melody choked and started coughing. Jack looked over at her, slightly concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked when she had recovered.

"Yeah, fine, I think," she answered. "Strange. That happened to Melody whenever she tried to tell the others something she knew and they weren't meant to know yet…" her voice trailed off.

"Who? What are you talking about?" Now Jack was thoroughly confused.

"Since I was 12, I've had this story going on in my head. Melody is the name of the girl I created and whose name I took. That's why I'm kind of uncomfortable with my name now; because it's not mine, it's hers. Anyway, Melody traveled to a different world when she died, and it's kind of the same thing that happened with me, except I didn't die. Her world and mine are exactly identical. She went to the world of Xiaolin Showdown and she knew all this stuff from her world, just like I do. Only, she wasn't allowed to tell the monks or anyone about the things that happen in the future. Whenever she was about to say something that they weren't meant to know, her voice would shut off and she'd choke. The same thing just happened to me, which is strange because Fate didn't bring me here. I'm not the Traveler like Melody."

"Sounds like a very complicated story," Jack remarked. "So you can't tell us certain things; you can still be helpful, though, right? Your movement doesn't seem to be inhibited."

"Damn right I can. Melody was able to work around the rules and let the others know of some of the issues without actually saying anything important to give it away. They had to trust her judgment cos they knew she couldn't tell them directly what she knew. So she usually said something about 'it's important', 'do this', 'do that', 'I can't tell you', 'you'll have to trust me', and all that junk. I'm guessing I can do the same thing with you."

"Okay, so, continue with what we were talking about before you…choked." Jack said.

Mel made a face. She had hoped Jack would've forgotten.

"Okay, so there are all sorts of people in my world and certain kinds of fangirls that make up pairings just because two people have any sort of interaction, even though there's no way that the pairing could possibly work. This next pairing is Jack and Wuya."

"_**WHAT?"**_ they both screeched. Mel held her hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Wuya is the only other female Jack has the most contact with! That's why it's a pairing!" she explained quickly.

"What's next?" Jack growled.

"Most of the rest of the pairings are slash, Jack." Mel warned.

"And yet you still haven't told me what that means," Jack retorted. "So what is it?"

"FanFictioners have their own language. AU, OC, OOC, Canon, Fluff, Lemon, and Slash are all the terms we've developed. AU means Alternate Universe; the world in the fanfic is different from the original world. The characters may have different roles, they may do entirely different things, they may live totally different lives, or the flow of time and the sequence of events is altered so everything is different.

"Canon is the exact opposite. Everything is the same, everyone's personalities are accurate, and everyone interacts with others in the fashion that they usually do. The story might be altered a little bit, for the sake of the author's intentions for the story. This world would be considered canon, because it's like the original world and all the characters are acting like their real selves. It's not changing a lot of things in the story."

Jack nodded his head, able to grasp these concepts. Mel continued explaining.

"OOC stands for Out Of Character. This is usually the case in AU stories. It means the characters personalities are different from what they usually are. They don't act like they normally do, and in a lot of cases, this is blatantly obvious.

"OC stands for Own Character. OCs are people that aren't in the show or book or whatever original story the author is writing from. The author creates them. I have two OCs that I've created. Melody is one of them. Her evil twin Morgan is the other. If you remind me later, I might tell you about them.

"I'll skip Fluff and Lemon, because those determine the kind of romance that people can write. And Slash is a romance category all on its own."

Jack waited while Mel fidgeted nervously.

"It's easy to explain to a girl, because for some reason, girls understand it. They get addicted to it; some so much that normal relationships seem disgusting to them. But most girls don't have problems with Slash. And I'm telling you now, Jack, I know that while it might be okay in my world, it definitely isn't in this world. You're the real thing and I—"

"Spit it out already!" Jack cried.

"Okay, okay! There are pairings between you and Raimundo, Clay, Omi, and several of the male villains on the Heylin side, most of which you haven't met yet." Mel made a face while Jack sat in shocked silence.

"Your people think I'm gay?" he asked, clearly insulted.

"It's your body type and general behavior, I think. You're just the ideal candidate. And there's only one pairing that makes any sense even though it's totally and utterly wrong and impossible."

"Mel, I don't wanna know." Jack said resolutely. Mel was quiet for a moment.

"You know, I think I might let you read some of CrystalikSky's work. You may not be gay, but you'll like her work at least. It's funny and the innuendos are awesome and hilarious. But come on; it isn't an issue here in this world, alright? This is your world, not mine."

"Glad of it," Jack grumbled. "Let's drop this FanFiction stuff, okay?" he added.

"Gladly," Mel sighed with relief. "Oo! Is that the mall?" She looked out at the world speeding around her and saw a large building. Jack checked a screen and confirmed Mel's question. He swirled down and around, and pulled off a few twists and a loop-the-loop before twisting a couple barrel rolls and settling down into a parking space, taking up two spaces. Mel whooped and hollered the entire way, laughing and yelping with delight at every sudden twist and turn.

She opened her door and stumble out, wobbling a little and giggling madly.** (3)**

"That. Was _awesome_!" she hooted, throwing her arms into the air triumphantly. Jack rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Come on. Let's get you some clothes."

"Ha ha ha ha! Total sweetness!" Mel shouted, pumping her fists. They walked to the doors and entered the mall.

In the hours that followed, Jack and Mel went from store to store, going through the many racks of clothes. Mel had a fun time searching for the best clothes, from hot jeans and cute skirts to blouses and baby-tees. There was even a store in the mall that reminded Mel of the Hot Topic back home, and she got a myriad of different jewelries and baubles and more clothes. Jack was enthusiastic about the whole experience, as if he didn't have the chance to go shopping very often. He enjoyed having Mel play dress-up even more than she did! It was a little suspiciously gay, to Mel's mind, but she knew plenty of other guys who liked shopping and weren't gay.**(4)**

During one of their breaks, Jack came back to the table they had claimed to find Mel engrossed in a book with pen and paper.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Mel answered without looking up, "I'm doing exactly as I said I would: I'm making me a new name." Jack looked at the cover of the book she was holding and realized it was a book of names. He sat down next to her.

"Can I see what you got so far?" he asked. Wuya peered over Mel's shoulder as well. Mel passed the paper to Jack.

At the top, there were three initials.

"What is A.N.D.?" he asked.

"They're my initials. I figure the best way to go about this is to keep them and choose names that fit in with them. So I'm searching for a first name that starts with 'A'."

Already, there were 9 names written down. The place of origin and the meanings were next to each name. Some had notes next to them.

_Adora (Latin) "beloved"_

_Alanna (Irish Gaelic) "fair, beautiful" A feminine form of Alan._

_ Alan (Irish Gaelic) "handsome, cheerful"_

_Alina (Slavic) "bright, beautiful"_

_Almira (Arabic) "exalted" A feminine for of Elmer_

_ Elmer (Old English) "noble; famous" See also Elmo_

_ Elmo (Italian) "helmet; protector"_

_Anastasia (Greek) "of the Resurrection; of Springtime"_

_ Ana (Hebrew) "graceful"_

_Angela (Greek) "angel; messenger"_

_Ardelle (Latin) "warmth; enthusiasm" See also Arden_

_ Arden (Old English) "eagle-valley" Literary: Arden, in Shakespeare, is a romantic place of refuge. ~Ardenia~_

_Ariel (Hebrew) "lioness of God"_

_Astrid (Scandinavian) "divine strength" ~Astra~_

Jack passed the paper back to Mel, who took it.

"Now that I have these written down, I can go through the process of elimination." she said, and then she set to work.

When Jack looked at the paper again, he saw that Adora, Alanna, Alina, Almira, Angela, and Ardelle were crossed off. Anastasia, Ariel, and Astrid were left. As he watched, Mel crossed off the last two.

"My first name will be Anastasia, or Ana for short." she said. Nodding his head, Jack found himself liking the name.

"You know, I think you are an Ana. You look like one. It suits you."

"What about the other names?" Wuya pondered.

"I'll work on it." Mel answered, and she set to work.

At the top of the page, Mel had written her new name. Anastasia or Ana for short. The newly dubbed Ana smirked as she continued to write down possible last names. Her new name sounded somewhat close to her original name and fully spelled out, it even contain it within itself! Genius, she thought.

When she was done, she passed the paper to Jack, who looked at the 10 names she had written down.

_Dahlia (Scandinavian) "From the valley"_

_Damara (Greek) "gentle girl"_

_Danika (Slavic) "The morning star"_

_Deirdre (Irish Gaelic) "Sorrow; complete wanderer"_

_Dodie (Hebrew) "beloved" Familiar form of Dora_

_ Dora (Greek) "gift" See also Doris and Dorothy_

_ Doris (Greek) "from the sea" Mythological: The wife of Nereus and mother of the Nereids (sea nymphs)_

_ Dorothy (Greek) "gift of God"_

_Darnell (Old English) "from the hidden place"_

_Delano (Old French) "of the night"_

_Donovan (Irish Gaelic) "dark warrior"_

_Drake (Middle English) "owner of the 'Sign of the Dragon' inn"_

_Duncan (Scottish Gaelic) "dark-skinned warrior"_

Jack watched Ana cross off most of the names, not bothering to ask what was going on in her head or why she crossed off certain names. Soon, only three were left.

Ana wrote them down, separate from the others. Then she began pairing them up.

_Anastasia Danika—of the resurrection/of springtime; the morning star_

_The morning star of the Resurrection_

_The morning star of springtime_

_~Ana Danika~_

_Anastasia Delano—of the Resurrection/of Springtime; of the night_

_~Ana Delano~_

_Anastasia Donovan—of the Resurrection/of springtime; dark warrior_

_Dark warrior of the Resurrection_

_~Ana Donovan~_

"Well, Delano's out," Ana said, and she crossed it out. Jack could understand why, too. The meanings of each name didn't match up.

"So Danika or Donovan. Which is it?" Jack asked. Ana thought about it.

"The morning star of springtime, the morning star of the Resurrection, or Dark warrior of the Resurrection?" Ana mused.

"Personally, I like that last one," Wuya reflected.

"Yeah, me too," Jack agreed. Ana nodded then declared, "Alrighty then! From now on, my name is Anastasia Donovan! Call me Ana.

"But what about your middle name? The 'N'; what's it stand for?" Jack asked.

"Oh, I'll figure it out later," Ana said waving her hands. "Don't we got a few more stores to hit?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

><p>The next hour saw Jack, Wuya, and Ana in their last store. Ana was standing in the dressing rooms, waiting for a stall to open. Jack and Wuya were waiting outside in the lounge area. Finally, a stall at the far end opened up and Ana started towards it.<p>

A girl, seeming about a foot shorter than Ana, came out into the hall and examined herself in the three-way mirror. She had short black hair and a slim frame. When she turned around, Ana thought, _'She's so pretty!'_

She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a white, flouncy, tank top-like shirt. It had spaghetti straps and a round neck around her chest. The fabric was form-fitting in that area and pinched close to her body just under her breasts. From there, all the fabric was loose. There was no hem at the bottom and there seemed to be a lot of extra fabric, because when she twirled, the many folds flew outward and fluttered gracefully and swished around her before settling and falling back into place.

It was as if the girl was wearing a skirt attached to a breast band on spaghetti straps. Ana fell in love with it immediately, and bounded over to the girl and got her attention.

"Excuse me. Hi! I really like that shirt. Do you know where I can get it?"

The girl turned and smiled up at her.

"You like it? I can show you where there's a whole lot of these things! They're on sale!" the girl grinned.

"Oh wow!" Ana exclaimed. She grinned and said, "I wonder why."

"They got overstocked. They expected to sell them quick, but it didn't catch on. So now they're hoping to get rid of them all so they can get different stuff. Bad for them, I suppose, but good for us! Right?" the girl said.

"Right!" Ana agreed. "I think it's awesome. I gotta try these on, then we can go check 'em out. 'K?" The girl nodded. She went back in and changed back into her original clothes, then stepped out for Ana so she could change.

"By the way," she called. "My name is Keiko. What's yours?" Ana froze in the middle of pulling on a new pair of jeans. _'Keiko? Did she just say Keiko?'_

Ana's mind worked quickly with this information, even as she answered Keiko with, "My name is Anastasia. Call me Ana." Keiko was the name of Kimiko's best friend. They were always on the phone together, talking about their lives and chatting like real girlfriends. A plan formulated in her head while she and Keiko approved and vetoed some of the clothes she was trying on.

When they were done, Keiko grabbed Ana's arm and they hustled out of the dressing rooms. Ana dumped the approved clothes in Jack's arms while he franticly looked back and forth between the two girls and the dressing rooms, bewildered.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Where are you going?"

"Keiko's showing me some cool stuff!" Ana called over her shoulder. Wuya floated next to Jack.

"Who's Keiko?

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, that happened! I hope you liked the names. I did use my little book to figure some stuff out, and if your name was one of the ones up there, good for you! You now know exactly what your name means. If not, oh well. And now for the note #'s:<strong>

**(1) My group and I are a pretty dirty bunch. We talk about sex and stuff it entails and all sorts of kinky things. I'm not so much into the talking sex crap, but I'm almost as bad at encouraging dirty-minded-ness. You think sex is dirty. Therefore, you have a dirty mind. :D**

**(2) Srsly, I'm messed up. It all started when I was 12, which was around the time that Xiaolin Showdown was popular. Too bad it was aired by Kids WB. They suck donkey dick. Pardon my French. (not) jk (or am I?) no, really, jk. (but can you be sure?)**

**(3) Is there any other way to laugh? I'm a thrill junkie. Yay for random subject changes! :D**

**(4) Besides, if he was gay, I wouldn't be writing this! But I promise, I WILL make an alternate universe version where I help hook up Jack with Chase. :3**


	5. Mall Mayhem

**Chapter 5! Hurrah!**

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><p>Ana stared at the many racks of clothing before her. The shirts came in tons of different colors and patterns and it looked as if there was a rack completely dedicated to each. Ana and Keiko went through each rack, collecting the ones that appealed to the two girls. They kept up a constant chatter, calling to each other about, 'Oh, this would look great on you!' and 'Wow, look at this one!'<p>

"Hey, this one is perfect! Keiko, look!" Ana said. The girls had discovered that all the shirts came in 4 different styles. Ana's favorite style pertained to the shirt she was holding up to see.

The straps that held it up didn't just sit on the shoulders, but it looked like they wrapped around her neck to cross in an X on her back. The neck dipped down into a rounded V. It looked exactly like the black one Keiko was holding up, except Ana lifted up the loose folds to reveal an attached undershirt that was designed to cling to and follow the contours of the body.

"It's like a cami with a built in bra, only dressy!" Ana said.

"Sweet! See if they have it in white, Ana."

When the girls were done, and everything was bought, Jack and Ana waved good bye to Keiko.

"Who's your friend, Ana?" Jack asked smugly. She nudged him.

"Don't poke fun, Jake."

"Jake? My name's not—" Jack began, but Ana interrupted him.

"I figure it's best if we each kept a spare name or two around. Just in case."

"Why?" Jack asked. They entered the food court.

"Because. Aliases, hello? They come in handy. If I'm Mel in one setting and Anastasia or Ana in another, people won't really make a connection."

"But why would _you_ need one? No one knows you!"

"_**Yet.**_ Trust me, names are important. They're a form of identity. If someone is looking for Mel, they'll find Ana instead. If someone is looking for Ana, they'll find Mel. And when hanging out with other people who call me Ana when they're looking for Mel, or Mel when they're looking for Ana, that only adds up to convincing whoever wants to know that I'm whoever I want to be at the time."

"You can't believe it'll actually work," Jack scoffed. He bought some food and they ate at their table.

"Actually, I can. When I was in Junior High, having another name available turned out to be the best course of action. Once, there was this pep assembly at my school. My friend Shane had to sit on a second row bench and when I was just about to plop down next to her, her annoying, pervy little brother, Phillip, scooted in right next to her. He knew she couldn't stand him, so he was doing it just to bug her. Taylor and I tried to get him to move, but his fat ass wouldn't budge. So during the whole assembly, Taylor and I took turns kicking, punching, pinching his back, and slapping him really hard upside the head. Taylor was really rough on him. She's a violent person.

"Well apparently, the little creep was a grubby little snitch too. HE told his parents and showed them his "bruises" and got Shane in trouble. Their parents are _the worst!_ Actually, I think it's just their mother. But neither of them cares much about Shane. They're mentally abusive, strict, hypocritical and unfair, and all around they act like asshole-ish dictators. Shane was told she couldn't hang out with me or be my friend. Kinda hard to follow those directions when we had choir together and walked to lunch right afterwards." Ana took a bite of the fries Jack had bought for them to share. Jack stared at her.

"What does that have to do with the names?" he exclaimed, incredulous. He ate some fries as well.

"Well, on the way to lunch, we have to walk past the gym. The choir room is in the Highschool and the gym hallway runs between the two buildings. It's the only way we can get to lunch after class. Shane and I walk together in that hallway. Phillip had gym and when the bells are about to ring, the gym kids wait around in that hallway. Phillip saw us walking and talking together. He snitched; Shane got in trouble; Shane told me and I made a plan."

"Still, what has it all got to do with extra names?" Jack reiterated.

"I'm getting there! It's part of the plan anyway. Shane told me she was told she couldn't hang out with me. More specifically, the girl with my _name._ Her parents don't know me, so they have no way to know the difference. I came up the idea to become someone else. One of the things I'm _really_ good at is telling a convincing lie. I'm an amazing liar. I managed to persuade all my friends to start calling me Morgan. We practiced that day and then on the next day, I went up to Phillip and was nice and I introduced myself as Morgan. Then I made up some elaborate story about I was my own twin sister and the real me was playing hooky, so we swapped spots every now and again because we lived in different households and one of us was public school while the other was home schooled."

"No way," Jack said. "He didn't really buy it, did he?"

"That's the funny part! He totally _did!_ **(1) **I managed to create my own alias and everyone called me Morgan at lunch, or whenever Phillip was around. It was cool, cos I got to start over a little. Phillip sat at our table and we all found out he was really funny. Everyone in our group has a sick sense of humor, including me, and we were happy to find out that Phillip was the same! So anyway, everyone got along, fun times were had, Shane and I could hang out without Phillip snitching, and Shane didn't get in trouble anymore. Over time, I eventually revealed my true identity, but he didn't care at that point. I don't think he even remembered the pep assembly incident."

Jack snagged the last fry as Ana was reaching for it. She snapped her fingers and made a _'damn'_ face. "So you kept out of trouble and did what you wanted anyway." He said.

"Yep. It also allowed me to stay out of trouble when I was keeping my real name. Mostly anyway."

"Really? Another story? Cool. Spill it!"

"Alright, there was this one girl who sat at the table behind us. Her name was Jessica Ingles." Ana paused and scowled. Her voice took on a mean undertone.

"At first, I felt sorry for her. Normally, I try to ignore the mentally deficient. I'm somewhat nice to them even though they creep me_ fuck _out. But if there is such thing as a preppy retard, Jessica was the one. Ugh, I hated her! I was nice to her for a while, waving at her in the halls as I passed, saying 'hi' in the morning. And damn it, there is a picture in the back of the yearbook of me standing next to her fat ass because I felt bad that she had no one to take group photos with when the photographer came around! It's immortalized in that yearbook! For anyone to see!" Ana took a sip of her soda.

"After that, she wouldn't leave us alone. She wanted to be included in our group. I'm sorry I ever gave her the attention. She wouldn't leave us alone! She bugged me, she bugged my friends, she butted into our conversations, she was an annoying pest, and she _**wouldn't go away**_. No one liked her and we all told her so. Every time I yelled at her, called her names and such, I was using the name Morgan. She would've gone away eventually, except for ONE person refused to be mean and send her away. And I damn near broke up with him for it too."

"You had a boyfriend?"**(2)** Jack asked. Ana's scowl got deeper.

"Yeah," she said grudgingly. "I don't want to talk about him now."

"Maybe later," Jack conceded. Ana nodded, then continued with her story.

"Finally, one day I got fed up. That day I snapped because she's so stupid and she didn't _get_ that no one wanted her there and she was so stubborn and stupid—"

"You already said stupid." Jack interjected.

"That day," Ana continued on. "I threw a punch at her in the cafeteria at our tables, but she turned at the last second. So I ended up thumping her hard in the spine and at the same time, I called her a retarded bitch. I said it really mean, too, like if someone was writing dialogue for me, they'd write 'she snarled' right after the words.** (3)**

"She'd sat behind our table long enough but she couldn't quite remember my name; she "knew" it started with an 'M'. She thought my name was Morgan, so when she snitched to the principal, about an _hour_ later, I might add, he didn't get around to me for about a week, and only because he couldn't figure out who the 'Morgan' she was talking about was. It's a shame he had the bright idea to use a school yearbook. Worse than a line-up, I tell you; I wasn't around to refute anything she said. So she picked me right out and said, 'That's Morgan'. The principal was confused and told her that I couldn't be Morgan. She insisted and he told her my real name.

"For the next three days afterwards, he came to my gym class and pulled me to the side and asked questions, trying to figure things out. I played dumb and pretended not to know anything. _'What happened? Where? Who? I don't know her. I've never heard of Jessica Ingles in my life! I know a Jon Ingles, but I didn't know he had a sister. We do have a weird girl who sits behind us at lunch. We don't know her name, but she talks to herself all the time. Really crazy. She tries to tell us all sorts of weird things that never make any sense, but we ignore her for the most part.'_" Ana put on the doe eyes and an innocent look, ducked her chin and looked up through her eye lashes. She made her voice sound all sweet and naïve as she imitated what she'd just said.

Jack laughed. Wuya asked, "What happened next?"

Ana chuckled, her head still ducked down, but her face anything but innocent now. Her voice was dark again.

"He came back every day after lunch, asking questions. He'd said that Jessica had gone to him, bawlin' her eyes out. She'd said that I punched her in the face in the hallway after lunch. I told him it wasn't true. I acted outraged and indignant. And I was!" Ana scowled. "I told him that nothing she said was true, that he had the wrong person. I told him I didn't do anything she said I did and that she doesn't even know my name. And that was actually the truth."

"How?" Jack asked. "You said you punched her! Didn't you?"

"I did punch her. But she was still lying. If you remember, I punched her in the _back_ in the _lunchroom_ during lunch. Not in the face, in the hallway, _after_ lunch. I never told him that, but she was still lying and I was still telling the truth."

"Sounds like a game of Clue, to me," Jack muttered. Ana smiled. "You guys have Clue here? That's so cool; we have it in my world too!"**(4)**

"That's cool," Jack said. "But what happened next?"

"On the third day, he was mad. He yelled at me, saying I was lying and blah, blah, blah. Longer story short: I got suspended. My mom was terrible; she sides with the principals no matter what they say, even when she knows they're wrong. I didn't know how I got suspended when I had _at least_ 9 people on my side; more since everyone else at the table who weren't in my inner circle vouched for me too. Plus, there was a table across from ours that vouched for me, because it was filled with a whole bunch of my other friends who hung out with _their_ other friends and such. They all were on my side and they all put a word in for me, because I'm just that awesome."

"Modest too," Jack chuckled. He motioned for Ana to continue.

"After I got back from being suspended, I found out the reason why. There was one, count it, ONE, other brown-noser who sat at the end of the table that Jessica sat at. He didn't sit _with_ her, not all the time. He was the _only_ person who sided with her, lousy prick.**(5)** And because the principal was an unfair jerk-ass, I got suspended. Because of one person who wouldn't get with the program. Tch. Typical. If it was _me_ in there crying cos some bitch thumped my back and called me a name, _no one _would have done _anything_. I would've just had to deal with it. Of course, people don't come up and just thump me, cos a few learned the hard way that I thump back!"

"Huh." Jack said. Just then, Keiko came up to the table.

"Hey Ana, do you wanna swap numbers?" Ana grimaced.

"Sorry, I can't. I've never even had a cellphone before." Jack blinked.

"You do now," he said. He reached into his pocket and handed a silver phone to Ana.

"I got it while you two were shopping," he said. I got one for me, too. My # and the home phone are already programmed in. And I have yours too." Ana smiled broadly.

"Wow, thanks Jake! Cool!" Jack didn't react to the name this time.

"Wanna add me, Ana?" Ana nodded and Jack watched as they took turns swapping numbers.

"Thanks Keiko. Have you met my friend?" Keiko shook her head. Jack picked up the name book while Ana wasn't looking. While the two girls were chatting, Jack searched for names.

Keiko sat down at the table and ignored Jack.

"Are you new here?" she asked.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. But I have Jake here, so—"

"Jared" Jack interrupted.

"Huh?" Ana looked to Jack, blinking. He rolled his eyes.

"My name is Jared." Ana caught on quickly and smiled sheepishly.

"O-oh yeah. Right. Sorry, I keep getting you confused with someone else I know—KNEW. Sorry Keiko, this is Jared." Ana said. Keiko put her hand forward across the table to Jack.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Keiko." Jack took her hand and shook it. "Jared Silas. Likewise." Keiko blushed a little, then stood.

"I gotta go. I have to be somewhere soon and if I don't skedaddle I'll be late."

"K! It was nice to meet you!" Ana called as Keiko left. When she was gone, she turned to Jack.

"Jared Silas?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Anastasia?" Jack countered.

"Touché. What's your new name mean?"

"Jared means 'one who rules' and Silas means 'Silvanus the forest god'."

"'One who rules the forest God'. Cool."

"I see you're hard at work making new friends," Jack commented.

"That's Keiko."

"So I've heard."

"Keiko is Kimiko's best friend, Jack."

"And you would know this how?"

"The fans and I tend to pay a LOT of attention to details in the show. Kimiko talks with Keiko all the time. They tell each other everything. Even if I didn't know a lot about things that are to come, we now have an ear on the inside. I know Kimiko loves to gossip with Keiko all the time. And vice versa."

Ana could tell Jack was catching on, and quick. His eyes widened and he said, "So Kimiko tells Keiko stuff…"

"And Keiko will end up telling _me_ stuff." Ana finished. "Or you. But that's another reason why we need to keep secret alternative identities. She's likely to tell Kimiko all about her new friend Ana, and Jared, the boy who was with her. When we meet the monks in a showdown, we're Mel and Jack."

"They'll have no idea that we're also Ana and Jared. Kimiko won't know and she won't think to warn Keiko and we can still get our information! AND it's a double-trick, 'cause one of us will keep our real name at all times, alternately. Sweet! How did I get lucky enough to be paired with a fellow evil mastermind?" Jack exclaimed, putting his hands to his head. Ana folded her arms behind her head and leaned back in her seat. She sighed.

"Eh, I practice. Spent a lifetime of bailin' me and my brother out of trouble. I think 70% of the few times we get caught, we don't get in trouble for the shit we do."

"Bump it, baby!" Jack held out his closed fist towards Ana. She cracked an eyelid and smirked, then bumped her fist into Jack's. The ring on her right hand nestled into Jack's knuckles briefly before they both pulled their hands away with a little waggling of their fingers.

"Come on, " Jack sighed. "We need to get all these clothes home. It's getting late and I'm not too comfortable in public." He and Ana gathered up all their bags stuffed full of merchandise; three bags each.

As they reached the giant fountain in the center of the mall, Ana noticed two boy children standing around. They looked to be about 11 and 12. Since Jack was walking faster, he had ended up about 15 feet in front of Ana. As he passed the boys first, they pointed at him and laughed. When he heard their jeering, he cringed slightly and turned around slowly. Ana stopped too and saw Jack scowling at the boys.

Ana caught his eye. He looked at her. She was standing directly behind the taller of the boys and neither one of them had noticed her yet. Ana tossed Jack an evil grin. Gripping her bags on the opposite side from the boys, the hand gripping them wedged firmly on her cocked hip, she made a quick sashay and swung her hip to the right (her left) in a swift and firm motion. It bumped into the boy roughly and he screamed as he lost his balance and face-planted into the water.

The smaller boy stopped jeering at Jack and laughed at the other boy in the water instead.

Ana started towards Jack again and didn't stop as she rocked her hip again to send the other boy into the fountain.

"Hey!" the first boy shouted. Ana turned as she slipped an arm through Jack's, openly mocking the children in the water.

"What?" she asked in a mock innocent voice.

"You pushed us in!" the other boy shouted.

"Oops! Ma bad! Guess Karma really is a bitch, huh?" she taunted. The taller boy stood up, dripping wet.

"Who are _you_?" he questioned. Ana's lip curled at that.

"Karma," she sneered. Then she and Jack deftly spun on their heels and walked away. The indignant shouts of the boys could be heard as Security dragged them both out of the water and scolded them.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I had to cut this chapter short because it was originally too long. So it will be continued in the next chapter, okay? Now for the numbers:<strong>

**(1) Ha! Phillip's such an idiot...**

**(2) We broke up soooo long ago... He was a total douche.**

**(3) Heh, irony... The dialogue thing, not the punch and "retarded bitch".**

**(4) It would be entirely too hard to not have anything in common with this world, so they DO have some stuff familiar to us. Actually a lot.**

**(edit)**

**(5) I only recently learned that the boy who vouched for Jessica didn't know the whole story. He apologized for getting me suspended and we all took turns making fun of Jessica. (the lower classmen are in the highschool with us now.)**


	6. Ana's Past

**Chapter update! This wasn't supposed to be chapter 6, but since I made my last chapter too long and had to subsequentially shorten it, I have continued it onto THIS. So, enjoy and stuff. AND MIND THE NUMBERS!**

* * *

><p>Jack let their arms stay linked as they left the mall. They walked across the parking lot in the cool air as dusk began to fall. He felt gratitude and a new appreciation for the girl on his arm. She had defended him publicly, and she had treated him like a friend. Jack felt himself grinning like a fool all the way to the jet. They piled all the bags in the back, climbed in and took off. Only when they were all the way up in the air did Jack allow himself to laugh out loud.<p>

"That was great! Aw man, that was great! You got style, I'll give you that!" Jack praised.

"Tch. They were children. That should have been you pushing them in!" Wuya cried. "I could've taken care of them faster than you could blink." She grumbled.

"Well duh! Come on, Wuya, you're an evil Heylin witch. You can take care of almost anything if you had your body and your magic. Had that been the case, I'm sure those brats would've been a smoldering puddle of gore before they could take a breath to speak." Wuya smiled and preened under the praise. She drifted closer to Jack's ear and whispered, "I told you this was a good idea."

"No you didn't!" Jack shouted indignantly. "You said it was stupid and I'd never get it to work right!"

"What, the portal?" Ana asked. She had heard Wuya and was watching with amused interest as Jack argued with her.

"Yeah. It was supposed to be able to open a portal to wherever in the world a Shen-Gong-Wu was. All I'd have to do was figure out where it was. Wuya could pinpoint it; I open the portal and retrieve the Wu, then walk back through the portal and done!" Jack scowled at Wuya.

"Instead, you crossed dimensions and got me," Ana said. Jack perked up and smiled.

"So I came out better in the end. I got a kick-ass she-minion from a different dimension."

"Uh-huh. But it wouldn't be wise to do it again. You don't want a freak fanatic for Chack or some other non-canon pairing coming through, or someone for the Xiaolin, or anything that might screw us over." Ana advised. In her head, she added, _'More importantly, I don't need any competition. I _**CAN'T**_ screw this up!'_ Jack nodded, oblivious to Ana's thoughts.

"Technically, he _still_ failed. He didn't make it so he could retrieve Shen-Gong-Wu, the twit." Wuya pointed out.

"Wuya, I really think that a transdimensional portal is _much_ more impressive than a regular portal." Jack reasoned.

"I don't think it counts. It was impressive, yes, and cool, but it was an accident. The machine didn't turn out how it was intended, so you'll either have to fix it or scrap it." Ana said. "If you still want to, that is." She added.

But Jack was thinking. Now that Ana had mentioned the portal…

The idea for the portal had hit him in the middle of the night while he was sleeping. He had shot straight up in bed and dashed downstairs to his lab to work. From the moment it struck, he had been distracted from working on other things, like JackBots and world domination. And after he received Wuya's puzzle box and released her, Shen-Gong-Wu were added to the list. Calculations, structures, plans, none of it would leave his head. It left him unfocused. During the few visits his mother made to the mansion, she had noticed his behavior and had talked to him about it. But he hadn't been able to concentrate even then. It had gotten better though. He'd worked on the machine as often as he could. The closer he got to finishing it, the better he began to feel, even though he was in a much bigger frenzy. No matter what, he couldn't delay it, or put it off; he couldn't quit. He absolutely _had_ to get it done.

Until Ana had passed through the portal to him, his body had been zinging with anxious energy. And when she stepped through, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief. As if it was meant to be.

Jack believed in magic. He had to; how else could he explain the mystical properties of the Shen-Gong-Wu? How else could he explain the showdowns? Maybe there was a Fate. Maybe he was meant to bring Ana here to this world? If that was true, then that would explain why none of the calculations or ideas would pop up in his head when he thought about fixing the portal. Whoever was in charge of Destiny didn't want Jack to send Ana away, or even have the ability to do so.

"Eh, I don't know. Something tells me it wouldn't work out." Jack admitted. Ana only shrugged in response. Silence filled the cabin. To Ana, who was used to peace and quiet, it was a content silence. But to Jack, who knew nothing about Ana's particular social intricacies, the silence was awkward.

Ana gazed out the window, lost in thought about nothing in particular. The jet zoomed over the landscape, hurtling towards home. Jack wracked his brain for something intelligent to say. He had the barest of vague senses about what Ana was like; that would have to change quickly if they were to be working together.

"So. What do you want to talk about?" _'Augh, God that was so lame!'_ Jack thought angrily to himself. Ana turned away from the window and shrugged.

"What do you want to know?" she asked. Jack wracked his brain again.

"Your parents." Ana blew a puff of air through her mouth and her brows knit together in thought.

"My mother. Her name is Valerie. She got pregnant when she was 19. She wasn't married to my Dad, but I think they were engaged, or at least planning on getting married. But when she told him, he left her. He just broke it off, just like that." Ana snapped her fingers. Jack nodded, glad to be able to listen, though somwhat surprised at how fast Ana had launched into it.

"I remember her telling me about how she told her parents. Her parents were divorced. She told Amma first."

"Amma? What's an Amma?"

"It's Icelandic for grandmother. I've called her Amma my whole life. Half the family on my mother's side is from Iceland." Ana explained.

"Mom told Amma she was pregnant. Amma was happy and excited."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Her mother was _happy_ she was pregnant?"

"You'd understand if you met my family. Icelanders view things a lot differently than Americans. And Amma loves kids. She's been everyone's grandma. When Mom was growing up, Amma's house was kind of like a shelter for kids. If you had a fight with your parents, you went to Dee and Don.**(1)** If you had no place to live, you could at least crash at Amma's. Mom used to have all her friends stay over at the same time. Girls AND boys."

"Wow." Jack said.

"They're family people. They take in strays. The only real rules were to be home by dark, no alcohol, no sex, and if you smoked, you smoked outside. That's why everyone loved Amma. She's fun and understanding."

"Sounds cool. Big house?"

"Kinda. It seemed bigger when I was small. Amma told me that there were times when Afi would come home from work and have to tip-toe around sleeping bags in almost every room of the house. There were a _lot_ of kids."

"Yikes," Jack muttered. He could feel the awkwardness wearing away.

"So yeah. Mom told Amma, Amma was happy, they started to prepare list and blah, blah, blah, all that junk. Mom sent a letter to her Dad instead of telling him face-to-face. She was terrified of how he'd react."

"And?"

"He was a little offended that she'd sent a letter instead of calling him, but he was fine."

"Huh. Neat grandparents."

"Yeah. So Anyway, Mom had me when she was 20. Her birthday is October 18th. Mine is December 8th, 1993."

"1993?" Jack did a quick calculation in his head. "That would mean you're 11!"

"It's 2004 here. In _my_ world, it's 2011. I'm 7 years ahead."

"How do you know what year it is?" Jack asked.

"I remember some stuff from the show, is all."

"Huh" was all Jack said in response.

"So anyway, I'm 17 going on 18 in December."

"Damn. I'm 16." Jack stated. "I was born in May."

"What month is it now?" Ana asked.

"June."

"Damn." Ana muttered. "Oh well, I should be used to it. I'm always older than everyone. Friends, boyfriends, siblings—"

"I remember you saying something about siblings before." Jack interrupted. "How many do you have?"

"Six." Jack turned to Ana wide-eyed. "Six?" he asked. "How does _that_ worked out?"

"After I was born, Mom was single for a while. Then she got married to a man named Kurt. He eventually got her preggers. Around the same time, my Dad got some chick named Christy preggers, too."

"Please don't call it that. It's disturbing." Jack intervened.

"I'll call it whatever I damn well please." Ana said. Then she continued on without stopping, "Christy had my brother Dakota on April 1st. Then Mom had my stupid brother Dustin," she hissed the name. "On June 13th. Couple years later, Mom divorces Kurt. She lived with Amma for a while, then started dating Rob. Eventually they got married, so Rob is my step-dad. Dad got with Gina. Gina already had two kids of her own, from previous marriages. My sister Alexis and my brother Landon."

"Don't you mean 'step'?" Jack asked. Ana shook her head.

"I consider them my real family. They're my real siblings to me." Jack nodded his head in understanding. But not really.

"Even before they got married, Dad and Gina had my little brother Christopher. After that, they had my youngest sister Bethany. When they finally got married, Dakota, Alexis, Landon, Christopher, Bethany, and I all participated in their wedding. Chris was the ring-bearer, Landon and Dakota were best men I think, and we girls were all flower girls. I sang a few songs at their weddings, because back then that was what I thought I was gonna be; a singer. For me, the order of my siblings goes me, Dakota, Dustin, Alexis, Landon, Christopher, and Bethany."

Ana sighed. "Things are different now. I didn't have to live in fear of my life. I had to live in fear of not making it in the big bad world. It's a real change from how it was back then…"

"Sounds like a long story." Jack said. Ana nodded. "It is," she said.

"So tell us the short version," Wuya prompted.

"I can't." Ana was silent for a time, collecting her thoughts.

"My childhood was a disaster. I was completely and utterly miserable. I was a little girl, I didn't understand why the world had to be so cruel and mean to me. It seemed like everyone hated me. My step-dad was really strict. He was harsh and callous and mean. He hated me and my brother, but he hated me the most. I always thought that my Mother would eventually see the truth and take us away from the cruel man in our house. She said she divorced Kurt because he was abusive and he beat us, but I have no memories of this. I remember always being happy with the only older sister I ever had. Her name was Brittany, but she hasn't been a part of my family for a long time. I was too young to remember much from that other house we lived in. All I had were the terrible memories from the current man living with us in our new house.

"Whenever Mom was gone, at work or hanging out with her girlfriends, we were stuck at home with him. We were always terrified. Every time he walked past us, we flinched. He yelled at us and hit us and threw us around and forced us to work. We were in elementary school and I didn't even feel safe there, away from home.

"I don't know how it was for Dustin. All I knew was my own misery. I was beaten and bullied at school. I was mentally tortured. No one liked me. Everyone hated me. By third grade, all the teachers had an idea about who I was. I could be found in the girl's bathroom everyday, crying and hiding from everyone else. By fourth grade, I hated all counselors, because the one at the elementary school did absolutely nothing to help me. He was useless. I had been in depression for a while, but I didn't know back then. School was hell for me; it's no wonder I was failing. No one had ever taken the time to explain things for me; I was just thrown in and expected to know what to do already."

Ana sighed. "My childhood wasn't happy at all. Things didn't start looking up until I was held back in 7th grade. Once out of that particular group of peers and stuck in with a nicer generation, I picked up friends and allies, my grades stared rising, my depression wasn't as bad… But things were still terrible at home.

"The rest of this story can be condensed and shortened. Basically, my Mother was a bitch. No one wanted me or my problems, except for a few select adults and peers. But even in recent times, things haven't been so well. I haven't slipped back into my depression for a long time, or thought about suicide. I realized just how stupid and superficial, cold and corrupted, and cruel the real world is. My father did drugs and drank alcohol. He'd spent lots of time in jail, gotten into fights with Gina in front of the kids constantly. He and Gina were in the middle of a divorce when my Daddy committed suicide."

Jack shook a little. Ana's voice had taken on a sad and mournful tone. Her story was bitter, but Ana spoke with resignation to her past. Jack couldn't understand how someone with such miserable memories could be so happy. Then again, he had allowed her to get away from that world...

"I couldn't trust my friends. As we got older, a lot of them fell prey to the real world. The group fell apart. I used to have two trusted best friends, but one turned into a selfish slutty bitch with no regard for other people or her self-dignity. The other doesn't really know how to control her heart. She dated two of my ex-boyfriends directly after I broke up with them, _and_ managed to lure one of them away from me _while_ I was still dating him. But I can't drop her because we're like sisters and I love her.

"And finally, I felt trapped in my life. I felt like it was speeding away from me and yet going nowhere. It used to be as if everything was just taking it's time and going really slow. Then everything sped up, like someone was holding down the fast forward button. I felt like I was suffocating and I couldn't stand it. So I took possibly the best and only way out: your portal. When I say that you saved me, I mean it; You saved my life. You saved _me_."

Jack blushed at Ana's heartfelt words. He'd never felt very important, but Ana was doing a good job of changing that.

Jack saw the mansion coming up and he began their descent.

"Ooo, we're home!" Ana chirped enthusiastically. Jack stared at her. Her mood had changed really fast!

When they landed and were in the bunker, Ana and Jack removed all the bags from the back and together they trekked upstairs. Jack dumped the bags on Ana's bed and went to leave the room.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me. You got that JackBot; it can show where to go if you get lost, okay?" Jack said.

"Yep." Jack went downstairs.

Ana started going through the bags of putting stuff away. She hung them up slowly, removing her original clothes from the front of the closet and moving them to the side.

When she was done, she found herself at a loss for what to do.

"This is kinda awkward," Ana mused aloud. A cynical voice inside her head spoke up. _'So _do_ something. Set out clothes, go eat, explore, do _something_! It gets boring when you just sit around and do nothing. Start making plans. Go see Jack. I'm sure he'll have something to do. And you'll need to practice, too. Do you honestly thing you'll be able to go up against the monks?'_

Ana rolled her eyes and took down the black dress-like cami shirt from her closet. She tossed it on her bed and set about looking for a pair of shorts. When she found a pair, she held them up.

They were black and they looked comfortable to wear. The fabric was soft, but not thin and frail like some of the other pairs. They weren't as short as her jean shorts and they were stretchy, without being skintight, but were looser at the ends.

She took both articles of clothing of their hangers and draped them across the back of the armchair in the corner of her room. Then she left the room to wander the halls. If she was going to be living here, it would be best to know where everything was.

* * *

><p>She realized she was being followed shortly after she had found her way into the second floor entertainment area. She turned.<p>

Her JackBot floated a few feet behind her. Ana jumped and almost shrieked before she realized what it was.

"Oh, it's just you," Ana said, put a hand to her chest. She could feel her heart pounding. She didn't like sudden scares like that. "Do you have a name?" she asked the robot.

"I am called JB-0127" it answered. Ana put her finger on her chin and propped up the arm with the other.

"JB-0127, I need you to escort me to the kitchen. I believe I am hungry and you need a new name."

The automaton gave an affirmative and did as it was asked.

When Ana got to the kitchen, she stood in awe of how big it was. _'This is Mom and Rob's dream kitchen!'_ she thought excitedly. She rooted around in the fridge and in the surrounding cabinets and cupboards until she had managed to scrape together some ingredients for a decent meal. Mainly, hotdogs and Mac-'n-Cheese. After her quick meal, Ana set up another meal and found a tray.

"Are there any other JackBots lurking around here?" she called. Two floating robots appeared from around the corner. "Ah! Good. Please take this to Jack and tell him I said he has to eat. Okay?" She handed it off the one of the robots and watched him leave. She turned to JB-0127.

"Alright, mister. Time to get you a new name. She sat at the kitchen island and pulled out the little name book. After debating in her head for a while she addressed the automaton once again.

"Alright. JB-0127, I want you to negate your name. From now on, your full name is Roger Ambrose Alistair. I'll call you Roger most of the time. Got it?" The android nodded.

"Yes, Miss Ana." it said.

"Alright, now that's taken care of. I noticed that Jack doesn't keep a lot of healthy foods around. There's plenty of stuff for baking, but most of it is junk food. Is that all that Jack eats?"

"Master Jack mostly feeds on snacks. Chips, pretzels, fries, pudding, cookies, that sort of thing. He eats PB&J sandwiches every now and again as well." Roger answered. Ana thought on this.

In her old home, her parents always wrote up a menu for the week so they could plan ahead for what to buy at the store. She had learned to cook using a myriad of different foods, mostly without recipes. Though, she was more comfortable having written instructions to go by. All her life, Ana had eaten healthy foods and she was strong. _'Maybe I can get Jack strong too, if I just feed him the right stuff.'_

"How does Jack usually get food stuffs here?"

"He or his Mother places an order over the phone and they have it sent here overnight."

"Is his mother home often enough to have any influence over what Jack eats?"

"No. Both Mr. and Mrs. Spicer work away from home. Mrs. Spicer visits about once every other week, to make sure Jack is okay."

"And I already know that Jack's Dad is an archeologist and almost never comes home."

"Mr. Spicer visits every 6 months and stays for about 2 weeks."

"When does he come home next?" Ana asked, curious.

"Sometime in December. He visited last month, and a couple weeks after he left Jack received a gift from the dig."

"Wuya's puzzle box. Alright, I think I've heard enough. Roger, be a darling and get me some paper and a pencil, please." The android produced the items requested and Ana began writing. When she was done, she handed to note to Roger.

"Order everything written on that list. Have it here and put away by tomorrow morning, got it?"

"Yes, Miss Ana. Right away." Then android went away, presumably to make the call to order.

Ana watched it as it left. She went back upstairs to her room and stripped before pulling on an old oversized Whirlpool T-shirt she'd had since second grade and a pair of tacky pink shorts. Barefoot and sufficiently ready for bed, Ana opened her blinds so that she'd wake up with the sun. But she wasn't quite ready.

She ventured downstairs and found the basement door.

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><p>Jack was in the basement, cleaning up his mess of plans from the portal. He had already eaten the food that Ana had sent down to him, and his stomach felt full and content. He heard the soft padding of bare feet hitting the steps at the front of the lair.<p>

"Is that you Ana?" he called without turning.

"Yeah, it's me." She answered. Jack turned and did a double take. Why was she dressed like that?

"I'm going to bed, Jack. Did you eat the food?"

"Uh, yeah." Jack said, finding his voice. He tried not to stare but failed.

"It's 11. You should probably go to bed too. Just in case we have to go Wu hunting early tomorrow."

"Okay. Is that all you're wearing?" Jack asked, pointing. It looked as if she was wearing just an over-size shirt.

"What, this? I always sleep in a shirt and shorts." She lifted the edge of the shirt to reveal pink shorts underneath.

"Ah. Okay. I'll get ready in a few minutes; I gotta finish cleaning up. Go back upstairs. I'm sleeping down here tonight."

Ana paused. "Wait, you really sleep down here? I thought the show was exaggerating."

"I have a room upstairs too, but I figure it's useless since I spend all my time down here."

"Okay then. Suit yourself. G'night Jack, Wuya." Ana said, turning. Jack answered with the same call.

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><p>Ana climbed into bed, sighing. Hopefully, she thought, the food stuffs would be there in the morning. She planned on cooking breakfast for a change, instead of heating a bagel. She smiled in anticipation. And with her mind beginning to diffuse into tired, jumbled, little pieces, scattering like leaves in the winds, Ana pulled the blankets up high and settled in to sleep.<p>

She didn't remember her dreams.

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><p><strong>Awesome. A relatively shorter chapter, but you see now why I had to to split these two chapters. Not many numbers below:<strong>


	7. Raimundo's Dream

**_Okay, now we get to delve into the dream worlds of each Xiaolin Dragon-in-training and Chase Young! There will be a chapter for each, but this one is for Raimundo._**

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><p><em>At the Temple…<em>

Around the same time that Ana had retired to bed, the monks at the Xiaolin Temple were doing the same. The Dragons-in-training, Raimundo Pedrosa, Omi, Kimiko Tohomiko, and Clay Bailey, all shuffled along to their own separate quarters to sleep.

Though they each fell asleep at different moments, they each shared somewhat similar dreams. And around the world, various villains and future accomplices shared in the dreams as well. Though none of them would connect their dreams with the others right away, it was obvious that they all centered around the same person.

_~entering Raimundo's dream~_

_~Raimundo's POV~_

I kicked the ball and ran. Dribbling it across the field, several opponents tried and failed to trip me up or steal the ball from underneath me. I could feel myself smirk as another one lunged at me from the right. I dodged him neatly and he skidded as he fell. I kept my eyes focused ahead. I smiled as I ran; who am I kidding, I was flat out grinning ear-to-ear! The wind rushed through my hair as I sprinted towards the center of the field.

Ahead of me, I saw someone charging toward me. A weird feeling of foreboding crept over my skin, and I couldn't see how it would relate to what was happening. I ignored it and stayed to my course.

I couldn't really make out any details from far away, but we were evenly spaced from the center of the field. That would be where we would meet then. I charged onward in determination. _I am the star here! No one can beat me!_

I just noticed something; he isn't wearing the right colors for the other team. But I know he's not on mine either, because we're not red and black.

His hair is too long. And it's blonde. What kind of guy lets his hair grow that long?

He definitely can't be a native. His skin is too pale. I mean, he's not _pale_ pale, just not as dark as the rest of us on the field.

With each step we took, pounding towards the center of the field, it was clear that something was wrong with this picture. The cold that was creeping up my spine was beginning to make me shiver. And it intensified when I saw his face. Only he wasn't a boy; she was a girl! I balked. The shock of it tripped me up. The ball slipped and I could feel myself stumble. I was gonna fall!

By this point, we were almost to the center ring in the middle of the field. The girl was grinning and suddenly she was in front of me. Before I could register this fact, she ducked down and shot out a foot and stole the ball before I could actually trip on it. I finished stumbling and twisted around so fast I felt my spine pop in more than a few places before the rest of my body caught up. I skidded backwards on my feet as I faced her.

She had taken the ball and twisted a lot more gracefully than I had. The ball hit her foot and bounced, shimmying all the way up her leg. She didn't catch it though. She bounced the ball in place on her knees, confidently balanced on the balls of her feet. She smirked at me, green eyes twinkling with deviousness. The wind whipped around in her wild hair.

In a split second, the ball fell and dropped to her feet and her right leg shot out. The ball was sent flying at my face so fast, I didn't have time to think, and I did the first thing my instincts told me to do. This happened to be a very bad mistake in the game of soccer. I caught the ball. With my hands.

A high pitched whistle blared in my ears and a ref started yelling at me. I couldn't hear what they were saying, so focused as I was on the girl in front of me. She wore a bright red sports tank and a pair of jet black shorts that showed off her legs. Normally, she would've gotten the once-over, but she was bent with her hands propping her up on her knees. She was panting a little, which made a ton of dirty jokes pop into my head.**(1)** She was still smiling at me though. The wind kicked up again and her red tank top fluttered and rippled in the breeze. There was a fine sheen of sweat cooling on her forehead; I watched her wipe it away. Her green eyes had softened and she was still smiling at me. I stepped back, disconcerted.

'_This is boy's soccer! That's a girl! She can't be out on the field! She's not even wearing any team colors!'_

I didn't speak these thoughts aloud, but she seemed to hear me all the same. She narrowed her eyes at me and I noticed a cold intelligence burning in them. I heard her own thoughts, her voice in my head.

'_I'm wearing someone else's team colors. I can't pick a side in this game; I am neutral. First come, first serve. Figure that out on your own.'_

Then she sneered and spoke out loud.

"What's the matter, Rai? Upset you were beat fair-and-square by a girl?" she taunted. She laughed and before I could react with an indignant reply, the world went black.

A new vision started. Now I was aware that I was dreaming, whereas before I wasn't quite aware of it. I couldn't see myself or sense myself anywhere. In the light, I became conscious of the fact that this time, I was only observing.

I saw her again. The same girl with the wild blonde hair and the glittering green eyes that shifted to reveal her emotions. She was dressed differently than the last time I saw her, and her hair had been tamed into a pony-tail.

She wore a long, loose white shirt that swirled around her. It hung to mid-thigh and on the front it said Death Before Dishonor below a circular decal in a black box.**(2)** Below, she wore black leggings and a pair of white flats.

She had her hands on her knees again, and she was peering over the edge of a very high cliff with a look of curiosity on her face. She muttered unintelligibly to herself before she straightened up and stepped back.

"Well, it's now or never, I suppose." She sighed softly. She looked out into the distance, a haunted look in her eye. They weren't wide open or bright. They had dulled and gazed out half-lidded. Sorrow clouded up inside them, followed by a resigned determination. Though the sadness was still clearly cut into her face, she sighed and closed her eyes. And the next thing I knew, she had stepped off the cliff and was hurtling towards the ground.**(3)**

The darkness overtook me again. My mind was still reeling with the suddenness of the act. The troubled etchings in her face, the calm resignation, the fall…

I had to remind myself again that this was just a dream, that the girl was probably just a figment of my imagination. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't real. But part of me was still screaming that she needed help, that I needed to save her from this end.

Before I could totally free myself from thinking, another dream surfaced. I couldn't understand anything, though. It was all a blur, like several visions going all at once, skipping around and stopping at random to let another vision break in and do the same thing. It was a confusing jumble of things. There were brief flashes of pictures, faces, and actions, but they were all disjointed.

I saw the girl's face numerous times. There were images of Jack Spicer, his robots, and us warriors too. I saw myself and my friends in many a showdown. I saw the girl in battle, too, twisting and spinning, moving with grace and agility, calculating with her eyes as she wielded weapons against us. She could maneuver around the blows aimed at her by one of us dragons-in-training so quickly. And she dealt a good many, too. The look in her eyes…

And then there were flashes of people I didn't know. There was no sound, keep in mind, but I saw the green-eyed girl in a defensive stance in front of Spicer. But the weird thing was that she wasn't even facing him! She was facing another girl dressed in the typical teenaged fashion. She was obviously arguing, still in a defensive pose, protecting Jack… _Jack!_

Now I get what she meant by wearing another teams colors. If Jack had a team, it would probably be red and black. So Green Eyes was working for Spicer!

Despite my revelations, the visions still continued. Now they were more intensely focused on Green Eyes, though I can only sense that from the feelings I was getting from this batch of visions.

I saw two women. Sometimes it was just their faint outlines hovering around Green Eyes like ghosts, other times I could view them as solid bodies. They both looked shockingly similar to Green Eyes, and they shared pretty much the same face too. It was obvious that they were twins, though their colorings and style were completely opposite.

The one who looked closer the Green Eyes in appearance had pale blonde hair, straight and wild at the same time, and _really_ long. Her eyes were the clearest, brightest, most prettiest shade of blue imaginable. I wasn't aware that human eyes could come in that particular shade until now. And her skin was like light butter-cream. I could imagine it being soft and warm to the touch. She was dressed in the strangest clothes, often white with gold edges.

I felt a kin-ship with her, like I knew her from somewhere...**(4)**

Always accompanying her, whether with her or against her, was the other tall woman. Other than the fact that they must be twins, there was almost nothing else similar between them. Instead of pale blonde and slightly wild, her hair was jet-black and straight. Her hair was long, too, but she had bangs; another difference between the two women. Her skin was pale; almost as pale as Jack's paper-white skin, but hers was a regal ivory. Her eyes were not natural-looking. They were bright and glowing and of the bloodiest red imaginable. Her cloths, though normal-ish in appearance, clearly indicated that she lived on the Dark Side.

The colors of their eyes were not the only distinction between them. The blue ones eyes were soft and filled with love and compassion, lighted with wisdom and calm and clarity; at the best of times, at least. In some of the other glimpses I got, there was heated fury, hardened determination… and overwhelming sadness. The same sadness that had revealed itself in the green-eyed girl when she had embraced the wind as she fell. For some reason, the blue one's eyes were familiar to me...

The red-eyed woman, though…

Her eyes glowed with hatred and rage. Coldness seeped out of her and a vicious hunger distorted her features. She _exuded_ evil. She looked to be a demon! Gleeful maliciousness constantly quirked at the corners of her blood-red lips. There just aren't enough words to describe to darkness around her, the evil within her, seeping into the air around her. She was evil, eviler, and evilest. She was Darkness incarnate. And she scared the Hell out of me!

What she lacked in similar appearance to Green Eyes, this demonic woman was conveyed through the girl's eyes when she fought. When ever she was enraged or provoked, whenever that cold determination filled her eyes, whenever she grinned that wicked smile laced with madness and insanity, I could sense the red-eyed woman in her. I could see the black poison radiating outward from her in clouds. And I knew that, neutral or not, angel or demon, there was something seriously wrong with Green Eyes.

The dark foreboding was clear, this time. And it all seemed to be connected with that girl.

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><p><strong>Okay, we got some foreboding and some future flashes and some spoilers from Travler, my other story. You don't have to read Traveler to get this story, but even if you read what I have so far, you wouldn't see direct connections. Traveler isn't finished. Now the numbers...<strong>

**(1) Hello, it's a DUDE's mind!**

**(2) This shirt is a picture that I will post on DA. Link:**

**(3) she wasn't actually hurtling towards the ground. She doesn't die. She was testing something. I won't tell you what, cos that would spoil that part of the story.**

**(4) The reason he knew her is because in an alternate world, he and Melody were married and had a daughter. SPOILER! haha, I suck.**


	8. Clay's Dream or lots of spoilers

**Woo! Been a while, hasn't it? Sorry. With school and all, there's really not much time to actually write, let alone type it all up and post it. Anyway, this here is Clay's dream. You learn more about myself and my characters, blah blah, all that junk. Remember to read the footnotes! #4 is important! And there are lots of short Spoiler stories from Traveler. I think you'll like them, and perhaps I could be encouraged to pick up writing Traveler again. Maybe.**

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><p><em>~entering Clay's dream~<em>

_~Clay's POV~_

Wraslin' the pigs on my Daddy's farm was a dirty but fun game. Now, I know right away that I'm dreamin', 'cos I'm asleep at the Xiaolin Temple. But I reckon dreamin' of home won't hurt a bit; 'fact, it ain't bad at all. I like dreamin' of home. It takes the edge off my homesickness when I'm awake, since comin' to be a Xiaolin Warrior.

So here I am, wraslin' in the pig sty, when all'v a sudden, the sky gets mighty dark. The pigs are gone, the mud is gone, and I'm all cleaned up and dressed.

I find maself walking thru the open space 'tween the house and the barn. It bein' night out an' all, I got no idea why the barn door is opened halfway or why there's light comin' from inside. I hear a girl singin' and as I get closer, it's clear that whoever it is is inside the barn.

I get to the barn door and push it open the rest of the way. Normally, the hinges squeak when the door gets opened; this time, they gave no protest. That was the first warnin' sign in this dream. The second was that when I walked in, I saw no one. The singin' had stopped as soon as I touched the door. I could definitely sense something very wrong in here.

I'd never felt scared in my own barn before in my whole life. I had never been creeped out by the peaceful silence that inhabited the barn. But dang it all if I wasn't now! At least in real life, there were crickets chirpin' at night, or the wind whistlin' thru the eaves, or animals and birds making noise outside, or the faint scuffling of mice in the barn. This warn't no "peaceful silence", this was heavy and looming and waiting! It was a dark foreboding.

It instilled in me that cautious fear; where you know something is wrong in that scary way, but you don't exactly know what the heck it is that's makin' you feel uneasy or why it's makin' you that way in the first place. Whatever it was, it was makin' me edgy, that's fer sure.

In the back of our barn, there is a giant stack of hay bales. They're stacked up thick and as high as they can go without topplin'. When I was younger, me and sis would sometimes try to climb to the top. We never made it all the way up to where the bales touched the rafters. Mama and Daddy always scolded us not to do it 'cos the whole stack might fall on us if we did.

Lookin' up, I could barely see the rafters. Not because they were so high up, but because they were shrouded in darkness. Lookin' at all that black murk was beginnin' to make ma skin crawl. There was somethin', I don' know what, somethin' just not right about any of this. And then I saw slight movement on the highest bale.

I turned and took a step towards it. A voice behind me stopped me though.

"I wouldn't go near her if I were you."

I turned around again. Standin' aways behind me was a girl. A pretty girl, too. She was tall and blonde and her eyes were the prettiest shade of green I ever did see. She was, well, I wouldn't call her skinny or thin. She wasn't scrawny and overly boney. She had some curves, a little meat on her, and she wasn't exactly petite. But she warn't fat or chunky, by _any_ means! Slender, that's the word I'm lookin' for. She was tall and slender.

"She's moping right now. Out of two names I could've picked, I didn't pick hers. So now she's acting offended. It's depressing."

She was dressed real simple. A clean, white, V-neck, button-up T-shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up and a pair of straight blue jeans and weathered tennis shoes. She looked at me with her big green eyes and her pretty blonde hair framing them. She looked somewhat sad.

"Who's 'she'?" I asked. The girl looked up behind me and pointed.

"Morgan" she said simply. I couldn't help it. I turned and looked.

Now that I did, though, following the girl's finger, I could see the top of the highest bale in the stacks. I saw a dark figure, faintly outlined in the gloom. It must be Morgan.

She was sitting on the top bale, knees drawn up to her chest and arms crossed over the top of them. I could barely make out the top half of her face; no notable details, just outlines and shadows. The rest of it was buried in her arms. She shifted her head away from me so I couldn't see.

"She looks like a pouting child," I remarked. The girl nodded.

"She's had practice."

"Is she gonna come down soon? It's dangerous up there—"

"In more ways than one…" she muttered under her breath.

"—and I don't want her to fall."

"See?" A new voice rang out. "The cowboy cares! And he doesn't even know me!" A shiver went down my spine to hear it. It made me think of all sorts of terrible things, the kind of stuff that nightmares are made of. I didn't understand how it would seem that way though. It was a perfectly normal voice, raised a little in pitch through the whine. I noticed that Morgan's voice and the other girl's voice were shockingly similar. They both had a ringing husky tone to their voices.

I looked at Morgan again. This time, I caught her lookin' at me. The darkness around her seemed to be movin' and it had shifted back; I could see Morgan's face better. She had lifted her head to speak and I could observe it before she ducked it away again.

It looked a lot like the other girl's face. Similar contours, same lines, etc. Maybe they were sisters? Anyways, Morgan's face was tilted in a surprisingly innocent expression. And she was definitely pouting.

When she saw me looking, she quickly turned away again, emitting a small 'eep!' sound. I turned to the other girl again.

"Were you the one who was singin' in here?" I asked. The girl, whose eyes had been drifting around the barn in a wary manner, focused on me again.

"Yes, I was singing. I love it. I'd sing all day if I could. But my family doesn't like it."

"Is that why you stopped when I walked in?" I asked. She nodded. "Why?" She shrugged.

"I guess I'm still a little shy. It's a bad habit I'm trying to break, but that's easier said than done."

I took a few slow steps toward her without her noticin'. "You got a nice voice, darlin'. I don't think you should stop singing." Why did I bring that up? I forgot as soon as the thought crossed my mind.

"I meant I'm trying to stop bein' shy," she clarified. I felt a little embarrassed.

"You said something about names before. What did you mean?" I asked.

"I don't want anyone to know my real name, because it's embarrassing. So I had to choose a new one. Morgan likes control and if I took her name then I'd allow her control. It's a long and complicated story, and I doubt you'd understand. But I took her sister's name because I know she's not inclined to take over my body. Morgan is."

I blinked and scratched my head. "Takin' over your body? Normal people cain't do that, hun. D'ya mind explainin'?" The girl sighed.

"Morgan and her sister don't _truly_ exist in my world," she said. "But they _are_ real. This world would probably allow them more freedom, so I can't take any chances. If they got free, Morgan would more than likely be stuck in her sister again, instead of with me."

I was thoroughly confused by this point. I couldn't make head nor tail of what the girl was sayin'. I might've thought she was crazy, if some part of me hadn't been shoutin' out that I knew her and I should know. But I didn't. Or at least, I don't think I did. The girl was avoidin' telling' me her name, even her new one. If she and Morgan's sister were sharing it, then it would make sense why she warn't tellin' the sister's name either.

Still, I encouraged her to keep talkin'. "Girl, could you dumb it down a bit for me?" Up in the stacks, Morgan drew herself closer together, anticipating the girl's next words.

"Morgan is a Shadow. Not directly _my_ shadow, though she's pretty darn close. She's the Shadow of her sister. She's like a ghost; certainly a spirit in some sense. She's made up of all things dark and evil, including the hurtful emotions of the body. It means that she's mostly evil; her sister is the exact opposite and she's had an effect on Morgan. But generally, she's referred as a Shadow or a Shade. Either one works."

"Now how is that supposed to work out? You said they were sisters. How can Morgan be like she is? What would their mother of it?" The girl tilted her head at me in a curious fashion.

"I'm unsure of how to answer the question of their mother. Morgan wasn't even _born_. Her sister was. In their world, Morgan wasn't even sentient. She was the pit of darkness inside of Mel—crud." The girl accidentally let slip the name. I nodded at her.

"Ya might as well just spit it out an' be done with it," I said. She grimaced, but before she could speak, Morgan spoke up for her.

"Her short name is Mel. And in the world she was born in, her mother and father both died, so they don't think much at all. I was "born" in an alternate version of your world. Magic brought me to life, but I don't have my own body. I existed inside Mel. Our story is much too long to tell; besides, only the beginning is truly important, and it holds all you need to know." I waited. She didn't speak. I waited some more, then spoke.

"Well aren't you gonna tell it to me?" I asked.

"Tch! No!" Morgan scoffed. "Knowledge is power, cowboy. Tellin' you even a little bit of our story is risky; I ain't gonna give you access to more power so soon!"

I sat down on a stray hay bale and sighed. I heard several soft thumps as Morgan came down from the top of the stack. She skipped all the way to the other girl, who I suppose would be called Mel if she took Morgan's sister's name.

Morgan had long black hair that stretched all the way down to the bottom of her butt. It almost came down to where a faint outline of darkness followed her, attached and flicking, like an invisible tail.**(1)** Her clothes were black as well. She wore a loose, black baby-T that had been cut short, exposing her midriff, and tight black jeans that hugged her legs. They had horizontal slits running up the outside of each leg. She also wore a pair of black knee-high boots that had a large chunk of heel on them, with silver buckles adorning the sides.

She turn and slung her arm over Mel's shoulder, hugging their faces close together, cheek to cheek. The darkness—Her Darkness, I realized—followed her, wrapping around the two of them, tendrils stretching out in an attempt to blot out the light. The tail-like thing whipped around and curled over Mel's leg teasingly.

Mel was cast in shadow. But Morgan was lit up. Her skin gave an eerie glow in the gloom. Facing Morgan full in the face, I could see her much more clearly.

My surprise must've registered on my face. Morgan's eyes were _red_. Not the whole eye, mind, but irises. They were bright and dark and sparkling at the same time, resonating bloody scarlet. I looked into her eyes and I immediately knew of the terrible things she'd done. I _did_ know her, I _did_ recognize her. But not from _this_ world, _this_ life.**(2)**

Morgan saw the look on my face and laughed. She smirked and curled around Mel in an almost obscene fashion. Mel looked a bit uncomfortable, but she didn't push Morgan away. I had a feeling that she was used to Morgan's closeness, that she preferred the contact. She stayed where she was with Morgan, but she watched the black substance warily. Morgan spoke.

"When our adventures officially ended, Mel and I didn't die. I'd long figured out our immortal status. We were transferred instead to our little Goddess here." She finished with a poke at Mel's head. Now Mel spoke.

"When I was younger, I created Melody and I made up her adventures. That was on a purely amateur level; I didn't realize exactly what was happening, what I was doing. When I got older, I organized all the stories and realized that it was all the same tale. I went back to the beginning, re-realizing Melody and finally seeing Morgan's prevalence in the stories. Morgan was only a vague concept at first; I refine her and redefined her over time. My stories and creations came to life. Originally, I had based both girls on myself. But Mel developed herself and changed on her own. She became indepentant and now belongs to herself; after her troubles and hardships, she deserves it. Her development had some effects on Morgan too. And me. I myself became less like Mel and more like Morgan. I gave my own creations power; Morgan came to life inside of me, much like she first came to life inside Melody.**(3)**

"Morgan needs a vessel to survive, and since we're so close together, I'm hers. When Mel's 10,000 years were up, Morgan couldn't rely on her anymore. Plus, she had already broken off from Melody in her last world and disappeared, changing the course of Fate and allowing them both to live past the 10,000 year marker.**(4)** They both have a shot at life through me. I suppose, depending on how you think about it, I could be considered their mother. I created them, in a sense, and their lives, at least in my head. The concept I wrote about in their stories, though, negates that conjecture, though I'm not entirely sure that it's accurate."

"Ah, shove it," Morgan said. "You're not our mother or our sister, though you're close enough to be one of us. We got a bond and we're all connected; we're almost related, but we're really not. That'd be weird."

At last, I understood. This girl was special and unique, but had some major problems too.**(5)** Both spirits lived inside her, though one was closer to the other. It's possible that her spirits had limited influence over her as well. She needed help, but what was I supposed to do?

The darkness lunged and blotted out everything. It was just me, Mel, and Morgan, alone in the dark but each of us were strangely lit up. Behind the two girls, a tall figure in white approached us.

She could be an angel or a goddess; it don't much matter which. But everything about her sang of light and goodness. She gave off a golden glow in the dark and there was a faint outline of feathered wings behind her, though they warn't directly visible.

Her eyes were bright blue, and again I had a sudden shock of déjà vu. I know her-knew her…

_"Come on, you two. I think you've given Clay plenty to think about."_ she said. This woman was familiar. I _knew_ her! I had to remember _when_. She looked older than Morgan and Mel, though this must've been the sister, Melody.

The remembrance of the name brought flashes of phantom memories to my mind. I saw all of us in what must've been an alternate world. Melody was our friend. She was just a kid, then, my age. She was different from us, but she was thoughtful and smart and kind. She was powerful and skilled, though she had difficulties wielding Shen-Gong-Wu. We grew up together, fought together, and lived in the same Temple together. When the rest of us fought, she was the glue that held us together. She helped bring us back together. I learned many lessons from her. In that world, she was our dearest friend. Heck, even all our kids were friends! I remembered that whole life from the world where I knew her.

I couldn't remember everything, just some of the important memories. Like the day she first came to us. The things she showed us in our dreams. The first time she performed her first voluntary display of magic. The first time she fought. Several of the other times she fought, that turned into epic battles between herself and Morgan. The day she grew her wings. The day she first learned to control her wings and fly. I remembered her many talents and songs, her quirks and odd sayings. I remember the time when she admitted that she'd fallen in love. The Jack in that world was different from the Jack in this one, but my opinions of him were the same. She had changed him a little. He was actually good for a while. I remembered the first time we met Morgan in real life and learned of her powers and her relationship with Melody. I remembered having to fight her. I remembered our first meeting with Chase Young. I remembered the first time Melody died; she had fought long and hard, but Wuya proved determined. I remembered the horror of seeing her impaled on the sharp pole, the blood, her lifeless gaze… Then Morgan rising up and the short battle afterwards. I remembered Melody came back when Raimundo laid his hand over her heart. I remembered when Chase had kidnapped Mel. Jack had saved her, only to be caught by Chase. The horrible things he'd done, our rescue, Melody's sacrifice… She was heart-broken when it came to he either loved her or he lived. She chose to sacrifice the love they had. He had inherited Morgan's hatred as a result. I remembered Melody's sadness and the way she grew closer to Raimundo. I remembered how Jack had gotten more evil, how we discovered the power of Melody's kiss, how Melody finally got over Jack and how Morgan helped her.**(6)** I remembered when Melody was kidnapped and brainwashed by Chase and how he planned to gain her powers and abilities through a sacred magic ritual that was the equivalent of marriage.**(7)** I remembered the end of that adventure, when Raimundo rescued Melody and broke the spell Chase had put over her. And I remembered the Final Battle between the forces of Good and Evil. Melody tipped the scales and defeated all existing Evil. I remembered how she had disappeared for 3 years to return a changed woman.**(8)** I remember how Jack had changed back to good and normal. I remember how we all ended up married with kids. Melody with Raimundo, and their daughter Aura. Kimiko with Jack**(9)**, and their daughter Capri. Me with Abra and the twins, Ada and Cole. Omi remaining an unmarried monk. I remembered it all.

We had lived a long and prosperous life in that world. Things warn't easy there, and I had a feeling they wouldn't be easy here, either.

Melody was watching me, and I knew she gave those memories to me, so I may remember.

"_Remember this knowledge, Dragon of Earth. Memories are hidden treasures, and these will be priceless in the future…"_

Her voice echoed in my head and then the light surrounding her spread until everything was gone and all I could see was white.

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><p><strong>(1) Morgan <em>does<em> have a tail. It's long-ish and whippy, solid and black. It's sort of leathery, too. There is a hidden blade inside it; whenever Morgan shows her beastly side, it's long and curved, super sharp, and extremely deadly. You probably wouldn't feel it right away if Morgan took a slice outta you. Note: her tail can change with the rest of her, when she shifts shapes. Morgan's tail is to her like Melody's wings are to Melody.**

**(2) Clay and the others know her from my other story, that has been pretty much given up on. Traveler. If I ever have oodles of time, and nothing better to do, I'll attempt to revive it. I'm kinda stuck on it. In a rut.**

**(3) This part is entirely true. It's exactly what happened. So now you know how the girls came to be.**

**(4) :SPOILER!: This comes from the VERY last story in what's going to be my Traveler series. Another spoiler: Takes place in the world of Sonic X. Something goes _majorly_ wrong and Fate loses contact with Melody during the transferring process. Melody is lost, seemingly forever. There's a cosmic accident, one that wasn't supposed to happen and affects ALL the universes and dimension, which is pretty damn big, and Melody loses pretty much all her memories of the last almost-10,000 years; including from the time before she was Traveler. She truly thinks she's apart of that world, no memories, just flashes. She's part phantom, kinda of ghostly, but solid too. And she somehow has a mental connection with Tails. The reason all this happened? Morgan finally figured that she's half good and she didn't want herself or Melody to die. She figured out a way to separate herself from Melody permanently and left the world Melody was in. She disappeared. This results in a sub-series that I will call _Children of the Traveler_, in which ALL of Melody's children scattered throughout the worlds come together in Melody's personal world and train, learn about each other, and work together in an effort to find out what happened to their mother. There'll be TONS of adventures here, and it includes a series of sequel stories to all the worlds Melody visited. Lots of details, missions, etc. Trouble is my muse gets way ahead if itself a lot of the time. I know _where_ I'm going, just not the _how_ of getting there.**

**(5) He means mental problems. I'm a nutcase, as you all can see.**

**(6) Most of these are majorly epic battles that I have no time to go into detail about. If I ever get back to writing traveler, I'll have to remember them all, so if I get time, I'll be writing excerpts.**

**(7) Yeah, Chase gets majorly screwed here. When I originally started writing, I hated Chase and gave him the true villain's role. In the end, Melody cursed him to love Wuya. (Back when I still thought Chase and Wuya should be together. What the Hell was I thinking?) Raimundo professing his true love for Melody, and it's him that saves her and breaks her out of Chase's spell, just in time. Her memory is restored, Raimundo is injured and she heals him, yada yada yada... She's wearing the wedding dress Chase had made for her the entire time, and since she doesn't have any other clothes with her, when they meet up with the others (who were busy fighting hellish minions), it makes for awkward conversation and embarrassment on Melody's behalf.**

**(8) Because she eradicated almost all evil from the world, the balance was greatly upset, so she spends those 3 years in a seemingly meditative state, restoring balance. In actuality, she was traveling to several other worlds and dimensions and altering them so that the universe balanced out with what she did to that world. Really complex.**

**(9) Don't yell at me if you don't like JackxKim pairings! Melody found Jack living in the streets as a hobo after the Final Battle. He was dirt poor and orphaned. Melody was still friends with him, so she took him along on her travels of the world. He became her manager and she became a famous singer, just like she always wanted to be. They went to Tokyo to visit Kimiko, cuz Kimiko and her father had adopted Melody into their family during the first year Melody spent in that world. At the beginning. Melody re-introduces Jack to Kimiko and the two find that they have a lot in common. Jack actually behaves like a really cool, normal-ish person, and Kimiko finds herself liking him. Within three weeks, they're officially dating, and Melody gets Jack an apartment nearby with her new fabulous wealth so he can spend more time with Kimiko. :D He also gets a junior executive job at Kimiko's father's company and invents new technology. They eventually get married and they are the first out of the entire group to do so. So Melody is Kimiko's adopted sister, which now makes Jack and Melody brother-and-sister-in-laws. :D**

**If you want to know the order everyone got married and had kids and stuff, it goes as follows: Kimiko and Jack marry. Clay meets Abra. Kimiko gets pregnant. Clay and Abra get married. Capri is born. Melody and Raimundo have long since decided to move in together, but they still haven't taken all the hints from their friends to get married already. Melody is Capri's godmother and Aunt. Abra and Clay have twins Ada and Cole, so now Capri has other kids to play with. Melody and Raimundo FINALLY get married and Melody gets pregnant with Aura. They live in a crystal lagoon, with a small waterfall and their own river and natural pools and everything. Really beautiful place, and full of wild, natural magic. There's fairies and wood nymphs in the forest around them and water sprites and water spirits living in the lagoon. Aura is born. 1 year and three days after Aura's birth, Fate takes Melody away from her family, and Melody has to move onto another world. She still keeps in touch with Raimundo and watches her baby's growth throughout the years. Sometimes, between missions, Fate allows Melody to go back to that world and Melody spends time with her husband and daughter. (Though, at this point, Melody has already had other husbands and daughters, which Raimundo knows, but he still loves her and doesn't fault her for her wandering heart. Remember: time moves differently in each world, so Melody is, like, hundreds of years older than Raimundo when she returns.) I should probably stop summarizing spoilers for you now.**


	9. Kimiko's Dream or glimpse of the future

**Hello, and welcome back to Portal: Beginnings.** I've been busy with a little thing called "life" so I haven't had much time to do much of anything in regards to Fanfiction. However, I _AM_ trying my best to keep this stuff up. It might seem slow at first, but this is just the beginning, so it's understandable. I've taken to writing little excerpts from the story, for the future adventures. It's turning out a lot better than I thought! So please enjoy!

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><p>~entering Kimiko's dream~<p>

~Kimiko's POV~

Okay, this is weird. First off, I'm in the city. That's not the weird part. The weird part is that no one seems to be able to see me. I'm a ghost without being dead. Either that, or everyone's ignoring me, which is just plain rude.

I wave my arms around in peoples' faces as they passed by.

"Hello? Hey! Stop! Can you tell me what's going on?" They all ignore my shouts. They brush past me without a glance. My shoulders droop and I look around.

The buildings aren't all that tall; I mean, I've definitely seen bigger. Wait; that came out wrong.**(1)**

Anyway, this looks to be a middle-class city. You know the kind: too big to be a small town or village, but too small to classify as a big city. Looking around, I couldn't tell where I was. I didn't see anyone I recognized.

Teens that looked to be my age and older roamed the streets in packs. They were all headed in the same direction; I assumed they were going home from school. But then I thought about it.

This looked to be a decent sized city. Why aren't all those kids on school buses? There were way too many for them all to be walkers. Not to mention that it was _summer_. And dusk. I mentally smacked myself. These kids wouldn't have been in school in the first place! So what was going on?

I decided to follow them to find out. It was easy. None of them could see me and even if they could, they wouldn't have suspected anything. As far as they knew, had they been able to see me, I was going where they were going. Which I, er, was.**(2)**

Normal city sounds assailed my ears, though somewhat muffled through the cloud of teenaged chatter all around me. I couldn't make out any specific words or phrases in any of the conversations, which was weird because I normally would. But everything was white noise.

"KEIKO!" I spun around suddenly, searching for the voice that had called my friend's name. Behind me, the groups parted slightly and I could glimpse Keiko. She had turned towards the voice whose owner seemed to be crossing the street. I hurried towards Keiko, shoving through groups of teenagers who took no notice me.

As I was about to pass another group, the owner of the voice that had called out reached Keiko. I froze.

The girl was tall; taller than me, taller than Keiko. She had about a foot on each of us. She had blonde hair that shimmered golden in the light of the setting sun. She had a pretty smile and a loud laugh. I've never seen her before and Keiko has never mentioned anything about this girl to me before.

I think I'm dreaming. Everything has gone a bit quiet and loud at the same time, and the insides of my eyelids feel fuzzy. All I can focus on right now are Keiko and this mystery blonde.

Both of them squeal and rush forward on tip-toes to hug each other. However, instead of the typical dainty girl-hug, the blonde scooped Keiko right off her feet in a bear hug and Keiko squeezed the blonde as hard as she could. Keiko bounced up and down when she was released.

"Oh my gosh, you came! But I thought...?" Keiko trailed off.

"I told Jared to off himself and that from now on, Friday night is _my_ night to do as I please."

"Ouch. Work still busy?" The blonde sighed and carded her fingers through her wild hair. The two began walking together in the same direction as everyone else.

"It's not that, really. We only get a hit maybe every other couple weeks, now-a-days. But even so, it's a high stress-level job! We gotta locate the goods _exactly_ when they're available, which could be at _any_ time during _any_ day! Not to mention that our locator is a bitchy, pushy nag, and Jared doesn't get along with her. They're both control freaks and they bicker constantly."

"Well, who's the oldest?" Keiko asked.

"Wanda is, definitely." the girl answered. "She's even older than my grandma, but she's an invalid, so she can't do anything for us but give advice and information." Keiko seemed to think about this real quick.

"Does she have any problems with you?"

"No. I let Jared be in charge. I just help him with certain stuff is all. Wanda actually likes me! I'm respectful and polite towards her. If she were younger and stronger, I know she could totally kick my butt!"

"I won't even ask about that. It'll get you off topic." Keiko stated. The blonde girl plowed onward.

"It doesn't help matters when Jared has a tendency to piss people off."

"Mmm, that's too bad. He's nice whenever I meet up with you guys. He doesn't seem like the jerk type at all."

"His guard is really up in public. He hates people staring at him and he doesn't want to make a scene. And he's generally mellowed out by the time we all meet up."

"Poor guy..."

"Yeah," the girl agreed thoughtfully. A moment of silence passed between the two before Blondie spoke up again. "Jared is totally different at home, though. He's bright and moving and energetic. He's funny and we laugh a lot. But with Wanda there, nagging and getting on our nerves all the time, though, it gets to be all sorts of stress and tension. And then Jared wants help with his machines and inventions, there's different stuff we each have to do... Not to mention that the job itself is dangerous. Jared gets the worst of it, I think. Our competitors target him cos he's weaker, though I _do_ try my best to protect him. We usually get out with little more than scrapes and bruises on a bad day."

"That's lucky, I guess," Keiko stated. "But what exactly prompted this Friday night special?" Keiko asked. The blonde sighed and shoved her hands in her back pockets.

"He wants me to help him work on his projects _constantly_. I don't know as much as he does about the stuff, but I have really great ideas that he's kinda working on and he wants my help. I don't think he understands that I like to do a _lot_ of different things. I have to stay active! I can't work on any one thing constantly; I'd go insane! And since we started working together, I haven't really had any time to myself to do what I wanted. I got fed up, plain and simple. So I gave him my conditions. Of course, he threatened to kick me out and all that junk. I had to re-explain that I just need 'me' time. I don't want my life to revolve around Jared any more than it already does. But the dude is paranoid. He thinks I'm gonna leave him or betray him like Wanda has about dozen times now."

"Well, if he's already had experience with a woman betraying him like Wanda has, even if it's at _her_ age, I can understand why he's like that with you. But hey, this is _you_ we're talking about! You wouldn't betray anyone for _anything!_"

"And I told him so. I just want _one_ night a week where I can go out and be my normal weird-ish teenaged self in public. So I gave him the ultimatum: he allows me this small freedom or I walk. No bodyguard to keep him safe. No one to help him with his robots or any other projects. And if he wants me to help him with artifact hunting, then he'd better start paying me, or I'd switch sides or go vigilante."

"Wait, isn't he paying you _now_?" Keiko asked. The blonde tilted her head back and laughed out loud.

"PAID?" she guffawed. "Keiko, Jared doesn't need to pay me. I live in his house, eat his food, and spend his money on supplies, clothes, and little outings like this. I wouldn't even _be_ here if it weren't for him! He brought me into his world; that leaves me indebted to him."

"You've more than paid off your debt, Ana" _Ah-ha!_ I thought. _Finally,__a__ name!_ Ana shook her head at Keiko.

"I have, but I like him and he needs me. I wouldn't really leave him like I said I would. And I doubt I'd make him pay me either; I'd probably have him owe me a few favors instead."

"Well, in other news," Keiko said. "I'm glad you're coming to the club with me. Being your idea and all, it would have been a shame to go without you."

'_Clubbing? Keiko doesn't go clubbing! And she could've called me!'_

The scene faded into black and I was left with my thoughts and an irritation that wouldn't go away.

Another scene popped up. It was of Ana again. She was sitting somewhere way up high. She wore warm clothes and the wind was blowing her hair wildly about. Ana looked up at the sky. It was clear blue, no sign of darkness anywhere. Clouds raced each other in the sky and Ana watched, smiling to herself. It was hard to feel mad at someone who looked so peaceful. Empathy worked through me and I realized that I was jealous before! I was jealous of this girl! But why?

Was it because she was going clubbing with Keiko? Was it because she had the _ability_ to go clubbing with Keiko? She apparently had time to hang out with her, whereas I was stuck in China training at the Temple. She had the ability to be there when I couldn't.

I caught myself. I had never seen this girl before! How would I be dreaming of her? I must have made her up. Huh. I didn't think I had such a vivid imagination. But this _could_ be my subconscious's way of telling me that I missed Keiko and that I should try to spend more time with her. But in the waking world, I don't know how I would be able to do that between finding Shen-Gong-Wu and doing my training.

Ana sighed breathily and carded a hand through her wild hair. I observed her for a few more moments, then disappeared.**(3)**

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><p><strong>(1) You know me; gotta have my sexual innuendos! :D<strong>

**(2)**** Kimiko always seemed a little awkward to me.**

**(3) Sorry for the sudden jump from one setting to another. This is as smooth as I could make it.**


	10. Omi's Dreamdamn inner angel wrote this

**Hello again, my faithful viewers. Been a while. I actually had some time and will power, so *shrug* here we are. Thanks for staying with me guys. Especially to all the people who reviewed this story, faved this story, and added me to their story alerts.**

**Stormsinger Dragon**

**Radioactive-Pingu**

**CrazykittensAtemyHOMEWORK**

**Callixte Amarante**

**foxlover101**

**Sanome**

**zane ()**

**THANK YOU ALL! ~(^u^)~**

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><p>~Omi's Dream~<p>

~3rd person~ (Too hard to get in his head and manner of thinking)

"I am Omi! I am the greatest warrior to ever live! And I have such great hair!" Omi's dream was typical of the big ego. He boasted and gloated and thought himself a grand king. In his dream, he danced atop a tall mountain of gold, the sun shining brightly down upon his beaming face.

Suddenly, dark clouds rolled in and blotted out the sky. Omi looked up, confused as it began to rain. His long black hair melted from his head and Omi scrambled, trying to catch it all as it turned into black goo and dissolved in the rain. He scrabbled at the ground. "WHY?" he shouted up at the storming skies. "What is the meaning of this?"

In answer, a bolt of lightning arched downward towards him. Omi cringed and closed his eyes, as the light blinded him. A roll of thunder sounded in his ears.

When Omi opened his eyes, everything was different. The rain pelted down harder. It was coming down in metaphorical buckets, water sluicing everywhere. The sound was deafening in his ears. Thunder clapped. Omi looked around, shielding his eyes from the blinding rain.

Before him stood an enormous mansion; leading up to it, a long winding driveway of cobbled stones. Various shrubbery were lined up neatly along paths and there were gardens, drenched in the downpour. The building was white, though it looked gray in the storm. The eves, shingles, panes, and shutters were all a dark red; bright like blood, but dimmed in the dark.

Standing in front of the building was Omi. He looked up. He had never been here before; did he make this up? 'No.' he thought. Omi believed in the significance of dreams. There was the possibility that he made all this up, but this felt too real, too vivid.

The front door of the mansion opened up and a tall girl stepped out. She had the wildest blonde hair, barely tamed down. She left the door open behind her. She didn't seem to notice Omi as she stood under the overhang above the door.

The girl stuck her hand out in the rain and let it soak for a moment before pulling it back in and wiping it on her shirt. She turned and called back through the open doorway, "It's not too bad out! I'm going!"

"Are you kidding me? It's pouring down rain out there! And you expect me to go with you?" a high, male voice shrieked. Omi thought that it sounded familiar, but when he tried to see inside the blackened opening, he failed to see who the voice belonged to.

The blonde shrugged and skipped out into the torrent. She was soaked immediately, the rain plastering her wild hair down and darkening it to a soft caramel color.

Omi heard the voice cry out in alarm when the girl did this. A pale face appeared, luminescent in the pouring gloom of the storm. His vibrant red hair was loose and un-gelled. And his black clothes seems to merge into the darkness, creating the disconcerting illusion of a floating head and hands.

Omi's eyes widened with recognition. Jack Spicah!

"Ana! Come back! At least put more clothes on!" Jack shouted. He was barely heard, the rain beating down upon the earth so thunderously his voice was nearly drowned out. He stood under the eaves and reached for Ana futilely; she stood, soaking in the downpour, just out of reach of Jack's searching fingers. Ana threw Jack a shit-eating grin. Jack yanked his hand back in, as if realizing that Ana could very easily grab his arm and yank him into the storm with her.

"Why?" Ana asked. "They're only gonna get wet with the rest of me! And they'll get heavy and uncomfortable! Besides, I think it's a bit late for that." Ana twirled a little in the rain, flicking water at Jack.

"But you'll catch a cold!"

"Nu-uh! My immune system is awesome.**(1)** I don't get sick." Ana paused in her twirling. "Well, throw-up sick, anyway." she said, and the twirling resumed.

Omi observed the girl, swinging her arms and spinning in the rain as if it were nothing but sunshine. She was soaked to the bone. Of course, this would probably be because of how little the girl was wearing. She was dressed in just a pair of black shorts and a cut-off tank top, both of which clung to her skin. The water was streaming down her face in waterfalls, and her arms and legs shone with the dripping wet. Well, they would if there was more light to reflect off her.

"Come on Jack! Dance with me!" Ana shouted. Omi and Ana both laughed when they saw Jack clutch the doorway in a death grip and vigorously shake his head 'no'.

Ana took off into the yard, whooping and laughing, tilting her head to face the heavens. Omi smiled and watched her, feeling the rain on his head, but not getting wet. Then Ana started to sing, standing in one spot and swaying her hips to imaginary music with her arms up in the air.

"_If I could walk on wa~ater, if I could tell you what's next, make you believe, make you forget… So come on get high, and loosen my lips, faith, and desire with the swing of your hips. You pull me down hard, and drown me in lo~ove…"_

Jack rolled his eyes and turned away, into the house. Ana watched him go, shoulders slumping. She kicked the ground, flung some water, and clenched her fists.

"So stupid," she muttered. Omi could hear her a little better. The rain had starting to let up a little, but it was still coming down relatively hard. Ana tilted her head back, face raise towards the darkened sky and the oncoming rain, contemplating the heavens. She closed her eyes and sighed, arms positioned away from her sides, palms up to collect the rain.

Omi regarded her. It would seem like she was a happy soul who knew how to have fun in the simplest ways. But there was depth to her. She contained a sadness within her. Her eyes that glittered mischievously held a certain intelligence; the casual but careful way she stood indicated a profound sense of strength. She seemed simple and easy on the surface, but in this brief moment of vulnerability, Omi was able to glimpse someone complex and difficult to understand. Why did she seem so sad and sober when Jack refused to dance with her? Why did she just stand out in the rain?

Then something strange happened. All the windows on the ground floor were simultaneously opened, and giant loud-speakers were placed in each window from the inside. Music started to blare and Ana laughed out loud, immediately giddy again.

"Oh, you are such an _ASS!_" she shouted, laughing. Jack appeared then, launching himself out of the open doorway and into the rain, bouncing and spinning without his normal trench coat. He stood out a lot more than Ana did, with his luminous white skin and his vivid red hair. He flashed through the rain, brilliant colors cutting through the dimness of the storm. Ana continued to laugh when she reached for Jack, and she caught him by the arm. The pair spun each other around and skipped and danced, kicking up water and splattering each other. The music skipped once and changed to a different song.

Jack sang along, angle his face towards Ana, singing directly to her.

"Hey. Slo~ow down. Whataya want from me? Whataya want from me? Yeah... I'm afra~aid. Whataya want from me? Whataya want from me? The~ere might've been a time when I would give myself away, Oh once upon a time, I didn't give a damn! But now. Here we are. So whataya want from me? Whataya want from me~e? Just don't give up! I'm walkin' it out. Please don't give in! I won't letchu down. It must meet up! Need a second to breathe. Just keep callin' around, hey! Whataya want from me? Whataya want from me? Whataya want from me?"

Jack danced around her as he sang. Omi thought quietly to himself that Jack had a surprisingly nice singing voice. It wasn't something Omi would've normally thought of the albino goth.

Ana started and slipped in a puddle. She barely caught herself before she fell on her butt. Apparently, Ana didn't know this about Jack either!

"I didn't know you knew the words!" she cried. Jack pulled off a few more moves, which Ana watched appreciatively.**(2)**

"I took some time to listen to them and—"

"You used the BAND and downloaded them, didn't you." Ana said this as a statement of fact, not a question. The music continued and Jack grinned sheepishly. Ana laughed again and said, "I thought so."

"I didn't download them completely! I just used the sound triggers like the ones you have in your brain! I don't know the words until I hear the music."

"Whatever! You still cheated. I memorized them the old-fashioned way and developed sound triggers on my own. _Naturally._" Ana emphasized. She then grabbed Jack's hands and they spun around some more.

The two played out in the rain for hours, dancing together and singing. They raced in the rain and chased each other, shrieking with laughter as they went. Omi looked on in awe, surprised at the of ease of effort used to make Jack Spicer: Evil Boy Genius, act like a small, giddy child, free of the consequences of the everyday world.

Ana, Omi figured, must be someone close, someone special to Jack if she was able to get him to act this way.**(3)**

A slow song began. Jack and Ana paused. They had danced through a myriad of fast-paced, bouncing, moving, beating, loud songs. They hardly touched in any intimate manner. The closest they got were holding hands or linking elbows as they twirled, or when they danced face-to-face, moving their hips and bodies simultaneously to the beat.

It was a sentimental song, and it wasn't the first to play. However, all the others were a little louder and more upbeat, and Ana and Jack could easily ignore the implications. But the one that played now...

The two children playing games were suddenly gone, and in their place stood two awkward teenagers, half afraid to take part in something that would make them stand close together, chest-to-chest, and ultimately more intimate than twirling by linked arms. Omi watched them with interest as they stood stock still, facing each other, questions in their eyes. This was the first time he had seen anything even close in likening to romance.**(4)**

Jack was thoroughly embarrassed, and he tried not to look at Ana. Ana was embarrassed as well, Omi could see, but she hid it better than Jack did. She also overcame it quicker. After hesitating, she took Jack's hands in her own. Jack resisted at first, when Ana placed one hand on her hip and held the other in hers. But at Ana's gentle nudging, Omi saw Jack's reluctance fall away.

The music played. The teens danced. The rain fell. And life goes on. Omi's vision faded and he was left with a warm feeling. A feeling of peace and joy.**(5)**

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><p><strong>(1): LIES!<strong>

**(2): Can anybody say, "eye candy"?**

**(3): SPOILER! The vision Omi is seeing is of the future. This WILL happen, when Jack and Ana are closer.**

**(4): RaiKim doesn't count.**

**(5): My damn inner angel must've written this. Usually I'd have something horrific or nightmaric. Do you think my muse is a troll? Gog, I hope not! But anyway, I didn't know how I should end this, which is why it has a snap ending like that. :/ So...**

**As you all can see, I couldn't resist the alure of writing a good vision for one of the monks. I decided to keep Omi's innocence intact. :) For now. :)**

**Love ya peeps!**

**PS: I think I need a better summary. So, please, in your reviews, PLEASE provide me a better summary for this story, cause I really need one. I'll even credit you the summary in every chapter. I'm serious, I'll go and edit every single one just to add your username in crediting the summary. But I won't choose anything until I have at least 6 choices. So go! Get writing!**


	11. A Warning to Chase Young

**Hey again peeps! Wow, two chaps in a row, huh? Back-to-back! I must be REALLY bored right now. Weird. And normally I'm so entertaining! Haha! But seriously...**

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><p>~Chase Young's Dream~<p>

~Chase Young's POV~

All day today, I have felt the world shifting beneath my feet. The sky looked different when I sought it. The stones that make up my citadel have a different feel to them. My skin has even _crawled_, more than once. Something big has happened, I know it. Something that affects this whole world, including me. I'm wary, to say the least.

This dream, as I recognize it, is yet another reason why I am wary.

I wander the halls of my citadel, brooding. Strange snipets of images flash occasionally in my head. They seem to be linked with sight. My eyes would focus on seemingly random locations in the rooms, and the images start up again.

Most often appearing to me is a girl dressed in white. Sometimes she's happy and smiling at things in her thoughts. Most times, she's upset or serious.

In one of my larger rooms, I see her again. It was a rather strong trigger, sending me vivid colors and details, even sound! She was dressed in white, as usual. Like an ancient priestess. She was chained in a complicated manner; two tall, stone columns positioned on either side of her with a strong bolt of chain attaching them. Linked in a highly complex knot (one that only I would know), her wrists were bound tightly together and held up above her head. She was outright _glaring_ at me! The desperation and hatred was obvious in her vivid, blue eyes. She had bruises and cuts, a little blood staining her skin, from a vicious fight.

Other images were connected to this picture. A dark-haired doppelganger of the girl, with red eyes, was defending her in a different situation. Four Xiaolin monks I've never met before, fighting for her, doing everything in their power to save her. And an angry teenaged boy, a young man by rights, glaring hatefully at me. His colors were exotic, with pale, snowy skin and luminescent ruby eyes and vibrant, fiery hair.

With each memory, for I had deduced this quite quickly, came a flood of information that I suddenly just _knew_. They were past memories, from a different dimension, an alternate universe of the one I was currently residing.

The girl in white was Melody, a potent young woman with extraordinary powers. Her father had been an alternate version of Grand Master Dashi, but she was born in a different world and sent here. Or there, I should say. I had kidnapped her in an effort to gain her abilities through a very complicated and difficult ritual. The raven-haired woman was Melody's sister, Morgan. She was a Shadow of the girl, her polar opposite, so the two weren't really family, but their bond was stronger than any I had ever seen before. She, too, had formidable abilities, and what's more, she was evil. But she was also trapped within Melody. Together, they were the living representation of Yin and Yang.

The red-haired, red-eyed, pale boy/man was Jack Spicer. _Supposedly_, he was a computers and robotics genius. His IQ was _supposed_ to be through the roof. The me in that world held a deep loathing for the boy, though the data supplied to me gave me no answer as to _why_.

Vague memories said that I had come close to destroying Melody, but through the intervention of Jack, who was in love with her, she was rescued. He worked with the monks and saved her, but sacrificed himself in the process.

He was unable to escape my wrath.

While I was torturing him later, Melody returned, her wrath magnified ten-fold, and she rescued him! The boy was close to death at that point, and he'd suffer irreversible consequences if he lived from the ordeal. So Melody had to sacrifice the good in him to save him, making him entirely evil. More evil than he'd originally been, because Melody had fixed him so that there was no in-between for his chi, like before. He was a normal young man in general, but a genius turned purely evil; he was a formidable adversary. By some random twist, he also gained strength and power from Melody and Morgan _both_.

As I stated before, these were memories from a different world. These things had already happened, but they happened to alternate versions of ourselves. I didn't really like the me in that world from which these memories came, which put me in a morose mood.

Movement. I snapped back to reality with a jolt, (ironic, seeing as this is a dream), and scanned the room. There!

Something black darted at the edge of my vision. Giggling ensued. Glaring, I stalked after it.

It keeps flitting at the edge of my vision. I'm starting to feel a little nervous, which is highly unusual for me. A cold feeling has crept up my spine. I know I'm being watched.

I come to an open room. Nothing. There's nothing here. I try to sense something, anything, but I'm disappointed to find nothing, not even a single trace of the intruder. Until I see another slight movement from the corner of my eye.

I spin and I'm just _barely_ in time to see a snatch of white disappearing around the corner, fleeing the room. I growl and give chase. It disappears and I find myself in another room.

It's one of my favorite rooms of the citadel. I spend the most time in here, not including time in my throne room, meditation room, and bedroom. There are many small pools along the outskirts of the room, many tall pillars and plants and flowers, and high vaulted ceilings. Skylights let in great beams of sunlight; perfect for my draconic half to bask in when I felt the urge. Expensive statues appear here and there among the exotic flora. The whole room is rather grandiose and I like to lounge here.

I was surprised to find someone lounging here now. The black shape and the white shape were darting all around the room, blurred even to my exceptional eyesight. In the center of the room, there lay another form, slumped over on the floor. The blurs circled it.

I began stalking forward towards the form on the floor. But as I was taking a step, I was gripped within the vise of a new set of memories and information. But they were different.

I had the distinct sense that these were memories-to-come, visions of the future, and that they took place here, in this world, in this dimension, as a result of whatever had happened today.

* * *

><p><em>Ana looked at me from the floor and smiled. She was working on another painting, and she had decided to take a break as I walked into the room.<em>

"_Hey Chase," she said. I felt myself smile as I replied, "Slacking again, Ana? My, it's a wonder you get anything done!" I said it in jest, and Ana's smile grew into a full-blown grin._

"_You say that all the time. Is that the best joke you can come up with?" she teased. I smirked and sat down in a nearby chair._

"_So?" I prompted. "Any new stories from home?"_

"_You wouldn't find it very interesting," Ana replied._

"_Oh?"_

"_Jared and I baked all day. Neither one of us felt up to doing real work, so we let out our inner girls and satisfied our sweettooths' cravings. Wanda was _pissed_!" I chuckled at this._

"_No robots? No inventions?"_

"_Nope," Ana said, shaking her head. "No robots. No inventions. It was almost... normal."_

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

The premonition was over. Momentum pushed me forward and I took another step towards the form on the floor. In the back of my mind, I silently screamed at the amount of information forcing itself into my head. I normally wouldn't act thusly with anyone, but the girl in the memory-to-be seemed too familiar with me, too comfortable, too casual. I didn't want this to happen. I was carried into the next memory with a flash...

* * *

><p><em>Ana climbed out of the cockpit of a bulky jet. This, in itself, wasn't surprising. She arrived in the jet for every visit. What was surprising was the <em>dress_ she was wearing._

The auto-information supplied to me the answer as to _why_ this was so surprising. Why Ana wearing a dress was so wrong to me. Ana _hated_ dresses, _hated_ wearing dresses in front of a bunch of people who _weren't_ wearing dresses. I "remembered" having a conversation concerning this, and Ana had said that dresses made her feel nervous and awkward.

_The dress she wore was no slouch, either. It was long enough to brush the floor of my citadel, poofed from the knees down and outward. The rest of it clung tightly to her and revealed curves I hadn't noticed before. It was bright green, and the non-poofed part of the dress was striped black like a tiger's camouflage. Her hair, which was naturally straight, seemed to be straightened even more. The normal wildness of it was tamed, which was certainly new to me. She had done herself up beautifully.**(1)**_

_I stood up as she approached. On the outside, I knew I smirked and seemed nonchalant, but on the inside, I was truly impressed. I was awestruck as Ana shuffled cautiously forward._

"_I didn't think you'd actually do it," I said as she came close. I had stepped down the stairway to meet her._

"_I'm true to my word, Chase," she grimaced. "I lost the bet; whether or not you played fairly is not an issue."_

The auto-information didn't inform me of what Ana was talking about. I was left in the dark for this, but the future me in the memory knew exactly what Ana spoke of.

_I smiled. "What I find amusing is that you actually _thought_ you stood a chance of beating me." I taunted. I held out my arm for Ana and she took it gladly. We started back up the stairs.**(2)**_

"_Whatever. I bet you couldn't do it again in a tight ass dress and high heels." I didn't rise to Ana's obvious challenge. Instead, I changed the subject._

_"Speaking of which... What exactly are you wearing? When I said a dress, I meant something along the lines of what normal teenagers would wear outside in the streets, not this." I gestured to the gown._

"_THIS... is a prom dress. I don't have any "normal" dresses, as you say, and Jared's mother is a little too enthusiastic when it comes to shopping for clothes. And I decided that I might as well go all out, since this would be the first and probably last time you'll get to see me in a dress, so—"_

"_You went with this."_

"_Yup."_

_I shook my head..._

* * *

><p>Another few steps towards the girl on the floor. From the memories, I guessed it would be Ana, but something wasn't quite right. She wasn't the same...<p>

* * *

><p><em>My EyeSpy Orb flickered to life. I peered into it's depths and saw darkness. And in the middle of that darkness, I saw Ana. I breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't come today, and I was lucky enough to catch her with her guard down. It didn't occur to me that that alone meant something was wrong.<em>

_She was on a cliff, sitting on her knees, looking outward towards the horizon. The sun was almost done setting and the world was darkened. I saw her face. It was blank, but I saw that it was wet. There were still tracks on her face… from… crying?_

_Ana didn't cry. Ana **NEVER** cried. No matter if she was injured during our spars, which was often, but not really serious, she never cried. I'd almost broken one of her bones and she still hadn't cried. She had screamed and bitched at me, but she didn't cry. But she had been crying recently. She was crying now. I saw barely perceptible shivers and fresh tears starting down her cheeks._

_I ordered the EyeSpy Orb to go back and see how much time Ana had already spent there, sitting on the rocky ground and staring out across the land. I watched time flash back and fast-forward._

_5 … 6 … 7 … 8 … 9? 9 hours? Ana had been sitting and crying on and off for about 9 hours. She hadn't attempted to get off the cliff she was on (actually, it was a plateau. She was in the middle of the Grand Canyon). I returned to the present._

_Ana's eyes went abruptly wide and her head shot up. She looked directly at me, through the EyeSpy Orb, and I knew what she was about to do. I tried to activate my magic to portal myself to her before she could block me, but I was too late. I heard her suck in a deep breath and the image abruptly went blank. I cursed._

The data in my head informed me that Ana had gained a few abilities in her adventures prior to meeting me. She could prevent herself from being spied upon, seen, heard, reached, found, or affected through magical means. This meant that I couldn't spy on her, find her, or portal to her. I couldn't even portal to the Grand Canyon or anywhere near it to get to her, because I knew that's where she was. I couldn't portal anywhere _near_ Ana if I knew where she was and planned to use that information. But this was only true if Ana willed it so; thus, when Ana was upset and forgot to engage her magical defenses, I was allowed to see her and get to her through magical means.

_Fast forward a few hours. It was nighttime when I checked on Ana again. The image was fuzzy, which meant that at least a portion of her magic was in effect to keep her safe. I wouldn't be able to reach her, but I could still watch and listen._

_The moon wasn't _quite_ full; in a few days time, it would shine across the night sky and light up the world in cold, pale luminosity. Ana had moved to sit under the only tree existing on that small plateau. It was long since dead; petrified hundreds of years ago, sitting aways from the edge of the canyon. She leaned on it, sitting sideways along the rock in that peculiar way of hers. Her eyes were closed, her forehead resting against the dead stone bark of the tree, arms crossed at the wrists laying limply by her knees._

_Her eyes opened slowly and looked up at the moon, despair so clearly writ upon her face that I found it hard to believe that this was the same girl that I previously knew. She hummed a few bars of a song in the back of her throat, mumbled words making their way through her slack lips every now and then. She sighed._

"_I won't sleep," she stated groggily. "I need to stay up. He might change his mind and see the truth and come back for me. I need to watch for him, to let him know I'm still here… waiting…"**(3)**_

_The next day, Ana didn't bother with blocking me from spying. I still tested the limits of the restrictions, but I was unable to portal to her aid. She didn't notice. Or if she did, she gave no sign of it, and made no attempt to correct it. This worried me greatly. Ana was normally so attentive, and the few times I was actually able to get through her defenses were only because she wasn't paying attention and was unguarded. And those times, she noticed immediately what was going on and threw up her walls around herself again, stronger than before._

_There was no such vigilance here._

_I was able to view her, but unable to transport to her, for five more days. During this time, Ana had stopped crying on and off, and had instead adopted a thoughtful pose, contemplating the sky. Yet I found that her face was eternally blank, devoid of any and all emotions. I knew that she had to be thinking, but I had never seen this part of her before. Of what she thought about, I do not know._

_She didn't eat; there was no food. She didn't drink; there was no water. She tried not to walk around much, though she would shift to different spots under the tree to stay under the meager shade, and moved occasionally to sit at the edge of the lip of jutting rock so that she would not fall asleep._

_Contrary to what she said and wanted, Ana _did_ fall asleep; she was terrible at trying to stay awake when she'd been crying. Her eyelids, puffy from her tears, were heavy and Ana didn't have the strength to fight them. She'd manage a nap or two in the morning and afternoon, succumbing to her growing fatigue, but come nightfall, she was wide awake, drinking in the sight of the nearly-full moon and the billions of stars overhead. They alone seemed to feed her enough to stay alive, but I knew that she would not last._

_I've no idea what happened during that time with the monks, or anything else for that matter. My attention was focused solely on Ana. I had my jungle cats take care of my meals and watch over the Orb when I had to take care of personal business. Constantly, I pressed in upon Ana's defenses, hoping that I could for once break through or that Ana would let them down enough for me to go to her and bring her here._

_I knew she must've been in pain, between hunger and thirst, and whatever injuries she had sustained before she had been left behind. I knew, of course, that her defenses prevented me from transporting myself to her, but I began testing whether or not I could send inanimate objects to her. _

_First it was notes, telling her to let down her walls so I could reach her. A failure, because it was an attempt to contact her through magical means, which she was defended against. Second, I tried to send her food and water. These failed to go to her as well, because I was attempting to affect her through magical means by feeding her thus._

_Five days of no change, until the fifth nightfall. Ana had thrown her walls up completely around herself. This was good and bad: good because Ana had finally noticed and was doing something. Bad because she was doing something she didn't want me to see. I had gone away to vent my anger and frustration. A few priceless, irreplaceable artifacts later, I came back to check on Ana. I was met with a shocking sight._

_Ana had a knife in her hand. While I hadn't been observing her, Ana had been busy. Carved into the dirt and rock around her was a highly complex circle of runes, lines, and symbols, each place so perfectly and meticulously and… I didn't know what it did._

_I was a master of dark magic. Those runes should've been familiar to me, the complex network of lines and symbols should've alerted me to something. But this was something I had never seen before, something I didn't know and was surprised that Ana knew.**(4)**_

_Ana was sitting in the center of this large pentacle. She set the dulled knife aside and drew a new one, curved and wicked-looking and extra sharp. In the moonlight, I recognized it as an athame.**(5)**_

"_You know, in my old world, I was always too scared to open a vein. I thought it would be easy to do, but there's an incredible amount of skin and tissue and muscle you have to get through before you can even touch a vessel. I was too chicken to even scratch the surface. Too scared of the pain of a knife slashing through my wrist to use it as my method of suicide. I preferred pills. Sure, they made my stomach feel weird, but they'd take my pain away, numb me up with the knowledge or thought that I should die, so that I didn't care. Then by the time they wore away, I didn't want to kill myself anymore. But there are no pills here. And if he hasn't come for me yet, I doubt he ever will, which means that I'll just suffer anyway. No getting rid of it. It's not like anyone really _cares_ how I feel, or what I think. Chase Young might tolerate me, but I don't want to be an apprentice. I don't want all the extra strife, all this… _drama_. I just want to be happy, that's all. Loved, liked, enjoyed, wanted, listened to…" Ana trailed off, talking to herself. I realized what she was planning on doing, and I pushed as hard as I could with my Heylin magic. Energy sparked around me in the strain.**(6)**_

"_What was I getting at again? Oh yeah, the knife." Ana held it up so she could see it clearly. "I find it funny that in this great world of opportunity I finally have the courage to cash in my life when it's my own again. He abandoned me. I'm on my own now. My _life_ is my own, now. That's how it works. Now it's my decision what to do with it."_

_Ana paused. I listened intently, still straining to break through her defenses. Her words inspired me to believe that she was still trying to convince herself to do what she was doing. A tear rolled down Ana's cheek, the first in 5 days. As she wiped it away, she said, "Lair. If he wanted me, he wouldn't have left me here. If he would've ever listened to me, he would've believed me when I was telling him the truth. If he wanted me, he should've listened to me, his comrade, his partner, instead of the enemy." An imaginary voice seemed to be trying to talk Ana out of what she was doing. I silently begged her to listen to that voice, all the while testing Ana's walls so I could portal there and bring her home._

_There was another pause, and then Ana exploded with, "GOD IS YOUR REASON FOR EVERYTHING! Well if God loves me so much, He'll understand and welcome me into his arms gladly." Ana said sarcastically. And then she slashed down with the athame, slicing through the skin of her wrist. She didn't hold back as she must've in her old world. Ribbons of red that looked black in the pale moonlight sluiced into the gouged earth, filling the cracks. She had cut through all the veins in her wrist all at once, spurting blood as she spoke in Latin and some other tongues, and feeding the athame her blood to increase the power of her spell.**(7)**_

_I paid no head to the words she was uttering. Vaguely, in the back of my head, I realized that she was transferring all her power and life to her partner and friend, the one who had left her behind, as a last gift to him. He would use her power however he wished, and live longer, through her sacrifice. But I paid no head to this insanity, as her attention was finally diverted to something else entirely. I had found my breach and I portaled instantly._

_The athame was in its second downward stroke, targeting Ana's other arm, hungry for her lifeblood, when I tackled her out of the circle. Ana screamed instinctively, and then in pain as I forcibly knocked the knife out of her injured grasp and threw it towards the petrified tree. I clamped down on Ana's bleeding wrist with my hand, blood instantly soaking through the fabric of my gloves. I grasped her too hard and heard bones cracking under my pressure, but I didn't release her for fear that I would let her blood out._

_I portaled directly after we were both out of the circle straight back to my lair. Ana was cradled in one arm while the other clenched her bleeding wrist._

"_Chase?" Ana whispered._

* * *

><p>The vision was over at last. I looked down at the girl on the floor and knew her to be Ana. Who else would I let in my citadel, to sit and stare or paint and whatever else she did? Who else would I neglect myself to save? Who else would I treat as a daughter, or anything close to resembling one? I was shocked and a little disgusted with myself for falling prey to that disease called affection. I didn't have family, I didn't need love, so why should I provide those things for someone else?<p>

Ana was staring at an old photograph. In it, there was a tall, tanned man and two children, a boy and a girl. The man had a long, narrow face and a soft sweep of black hair. Hazel eyes squinted at the camera. He was crouched near the ground, strong arms encircling the two children. The boy child had light blonde hair that showed signs of changing color. His eyes were dark and he was naturally colored with Indian skin. The girl had golden hair, hazel eyes, and it was barely perceptable, but she had a slightly fairer complexion, though it was obvious that she was kin to the boy and the man clutching the both of them. They all squinted a little bit; the sun was bright. And they all smiled. The girl's lips were spread mid-laugh. It was a happy picture. A memory.**(8)**

I recognized Ana as the girl in the picture and something about her father struck me. Ana was different in so many ways, but she still looked like her father. My mind spun for some reason I didn't know, and though my inner self knew her, I heard myself demand, "Who are you?"

"Who she is is of no importance to you as of yet." The white blur materialized into Melody beside Ana. Shock rippled through me and I experienced a rare thrill of fear, a remnant of my alternate self in the world Melody fought in.

"And what she means to you is the same." Morgan materialized from the black blur. Both entities barred Ana from my view. I stepped back.

"Why, then, was I shown these things?" I asked.

"Because," one began. "As the Guardians of the Balance, it is our duty to Fate to preserve the integrity of all worlds" the other finished.

"As much as I hate what is destined to happen here, I have no choice in the matter," Melody stated. "It is all up to Ana."

"We showed you those things so that in the future, when the time comes, you may change the outcome. If all goes well, you may not need to ever save Ana from herself. Among other things that are unnecessary…"

"Such as what?" I asked, eyebrow raised. Morgan shook her head and crossed her arms.

"That is unimportant now. You will know when you need to know. You will be important to Ana's survival and development." She said.

"But until she reveals herself to you, there is nothing you can do. You cannot search for her or influence her before her time. In the meantime, think on these things. Prepare yourself for her eventual arrival. When that will be is up to her. But there is still much to be done." Melody stated solemnly.

As a test, I asked, "And what if I decided to save myself the trouble and just kill her?" Then I went further. "What if I decided to sabotage her and her mission?"

Morgan laughed outright. "She doesn't _have_ a mission. But you would force us to right the wrong done against the world, the balance, and us. Ana isn't a tool that Fate can use however She wills. Ana is more than that. But should you choose to do so anyway, knowing the consequences of such foolish actions…"

I suddenly found myself being choked in a black hold, surrounded by a wicked darkness. No, Darkness. She tightened Her cold, hard grip around my throat. My heart sped rapidly, thrumming in my chest like a frail little bird. A deep, human, instinctual fear took hold of me, and I was frozen. I was aware of my physical body, the material beneath me and the sheets around me cold against my rigid skin. I tried to wake myself, to shake myself of the hold Morgan had on me, to move, do _anything_, but I failed. I was trapped within myself, ensnared in my own chest, compressed tightly into the little cavity home to my beating heart. Or worse yet, where my soul used to be…

"_You feel its absence. Heheheh… you think you don't have one, do you? You think you're safe from the pain of that tortured I specialize in? Think again. You survive on your soul's shadow, and I can burn that one straight to Hell AND steal back your real soul and burn that one too. I can make you scream, Chase Young. You don't mess with the Gods and their pets and expect to remain safe and sane. This is your warning. The suffocating feeling will seem to last for an eternity as your body is tortured and mutilated, and then the burning, the ripping, the shredding of your shadow of a soul will be all you will feel until someone decides to be merciful on your sorry, repentant ass and put you out of your own wretchedness._

I was brought back to the light suddenly and harshly. I resisted the urge to gasp at the air and instead opted for breathing long and deep to restore my composed calm. But this wasn't so for my physical body. In the waking world, I gasped for air, my lungs clawing for it, gulping it down in raggedly, and forcing it coarsely down my throat. As calm as I appeared here, I knew it didn't matter. They both knew what I was really feeling. The girls that other me knew before had grown up into fully-fledged Guardians. They knew and they understood things. They were powerful, and higher than the Gods themselves. They would not show mercy to me if I crossed them.

Melody gazed at me, not warmly, and coldly, just… impassive. Her eyes told of her hardships. Her troubles. She had walked through the fires of Hell so many times she had learned to come away unscathed every time.

"You are correct in your observations, Young," she began coolly. "I've 'been through Hell'. I've come away a changed woman every time. My mission is over, for the most part. This girl is my second chance. _Our_ second chance. We've staked everything on her; she's important. If she is destroyed," Melody narrowed her eyes dangerously. "we will have absolutely nothing left to lose. You won't just lose your life, Chase Young. Or your soul. You will be the death of _all_ existing Chase Youngs in the multiverse. Chase Young will not exist. And reality will manipulate itself so it is as if he never did. Do I make. Myself. Clear?"

I nodded. "What exactly do you want me to do with the girl?" I asked.

"Time will eventually tell you. For now, you need not worry." She glanced down at Ana and found the girl leaning against her leg, eyes closed and sleeping. When she looked at me again, the coldness and indifference was gone. She waved her hand and true sleep finally claimed me.

* * *

><p><strong>(1): Don't worry, folks. There is absolutely NO ROMANCE between Ana and Chase. Blech. He's too manipulative for my tastes. Plus, I'd prefer someone goofy and my age. You know, one who'll have fun when we take turns pranking each other?<strong>

**OH! And if you want to see the dress I'm talking about, go here: http:/ / . com /art/ Ana-s-Dress-277773109 only without the spaces, you know that.**

**(2): That doesn't prove anything. He's doing this out of courtesy. Ana's wearing heels.**

**(3): I'm not telling what happened. I give out too many spoilers as it is. It's horrible how lenient I am with you guys! But anyway, Ana can hear Melody and Morgan talking to her in her head. They've always been there and when Ana came into her power, they could speak more freely. ACK! STOP MAKING ME GIVE OUT INFORMATION! XC**

**(4): Did I ever mention anything about the demon lake? No? Okay, I won't then.**

**(5): In case you don't know, an athame is used for sacrificial rituals. Witches and warlocks use them regularly, as well as other people. Athames are mainly associated with magic; usually the darker stuff.**

**(6): In case it's not obvious, Ana is commiting suicide, and all the runes and lines of the pentacle are to trap all her demon energies and power and tranfer them all to Jack, so she'll still be of use to him, even in death. This is an idea I came up with for why she would orchestrate such an elaborate death for herself.**

**Yes, I am a suicidal person. Yes, I am going to therapy now. Yes, I have a psychiatrist. Why the hell do you think I write fanfiction for? Everyone here is at least a little bit psycho. so nyah, lemme alone.**

**(7): I have _no_ idea what I'm doing here...**

**(8): This picture does not exist. I made it up. But the people are real.**

**As an added note for the end: It seems that all the best things and symultaniously all the worst things are represented by a woman. And I think that in this case, Chase would agree.**


	12. a message from the author

Dear friends,

People who read my stories,

And others,

I am working on my story "Portal: Beginnings" once again. I was on hiatus before, but I am back and once again working. Please give me some time to complete a few chapters, because I am almost finished with Portal: Beginnings. After that, I will start again with a new story. These stories will each be individual chapters in the characters' lives, so keep reading and you'll eventually see more of them and me.

Thanks! Love you.

Dadles

_(Also, if you wanna see me on Tumblr, I am, once again, Dadles. I have tags.)_


	13. I like Joe

~back to normal writing~

Ana woke up with the sun, exactly as she had wanted. She looked at the clock, finding it was still early. Well, early for jack that is.

She lay in bed, slowly becoming more and more awake, more aware, just enjoying the luxurious feelings of having the time the fully wake up before she started her day. She lounged among the sheets, eyes closed but becoming light with every breath. She breathe deeply, thinking no thoughts and focusing on nothing. The, her first thought of the day:

"_This feels like it could be a form of meditating_."

And with that, Ana's eyes opened and her internal radio kicked into gear. Sweet Pea rolled around in her mind and the floodgates of thoughts opened up and splashed and sloshed inside her head. This created a cacophony of noise. Ana remained lying in bed, listening to each passing thought and tidbit of data that passed through the front of her brain.

Eventually, she could stand to be immobile no longer. Groaning, she sat up and got out of her bed, stretching. When she was sure that her back would break or fracture if she kept stretching it like she was, she let it all go, the tension falling away from her and she slumped and fell into her bed again. She stood once she was no longer dizzy and made her way bare-footed through the house to take care of business, and brush her hair and teeth.

* * *

><p>She was surprised when she opened the cabinets in the kitchen to find them fully stocked with the food she had Roger order the night before. She opened the fridge to find it the same way; fully-stocked and ready for action.<p>

"I wonder how it got here so fast...Ana murmured to herself. There was a loudly whirring behind her and she spun. She jumped as she came nose-to-nose with a robotic bulk, but recognized it as Roger when she saw the marking on his helmet.

"_Oh," _she breathed heavily, clutching her chest. "Don't _DO _that!" The automaton didn't respond.

Ana turned and started pulling some ingredients down from the stocked shelves and cupboards. She instructed Roger to retrieve her computer as she began cooking.

* * *

><p>~Jack~<p>

_*sniff*_

Jack tossed in his bed. Warm, delicious smells assaulted his nose, going further to wake him up. His face screwed up, fighting the growing awareness. What was that smell?

_'Pancakes?'_ Jack thought. _'Sausage? Eggs?'_ These were almost enough to get Jack out of bed and trekkiing up the stairs into daylight. But his limbs were tired and achy, and his head hurt and was begging him to stay put and rest. He had stayed up later than Ana, ignoring her suggestion to retire early in stead of his usual routine, which was just staying up until the wee hours of morning and sleeping 'til noon.

And then he caught something else, another scent wafting lazily past his sensitive nose. It was enough to finally wake him up and to convince him to actually get up for the day instead of lying around.

"Coffee..." Jack sighed dreamily. Jack got out of bed and found his slippers before trudging upstairs. He was motivated only by the scent of the brew to continue forward. It got stronger as he approached the kitchen.

When he got there, his eyes widened considerably at the sight he was met with. Ana, still dressed only in her shorts and long T-shirt, was dancing in the middle of the kitchen to some loud music coming from her computer. She sang along loudly, _totally_ oblivious to Jack's presence in the room.

She be-bopped along, flitting from one counter to the next. Her body was constantly in motion; she hardly stopped for a breather, bobbing her head and singing along, flipping pancakes. The coffee pot brewed right beside her.

Another song popped up, a song Jack didn't know that repeated the phrase, "Only girl in the world". Ana wiggled and bounced. She moved in a way that had Jack staring agape and then at the floor in embarrassment. Ana was bare-footed, he noticed.

"Only girl in the world! Girl in the world!" the song eventually ended. Ana hummed and turned to her computer to check something.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted Jack hanging in the doorway to the kitchen. She gave a low shriek as she jumped and spun. She pressed a hand to her heart and clung to the counter-top, breathing hard. Jack jumped a little at Ana's rapid response to his presence.

However, she visibly calmed once she saw it was only Jack.

"_Oh_. Hey. Morning. You gave me a start there. You want some breakfast?" Ana asked. She fingered the rim at the collar of her shirt nervously, waiting for an answer. Jack trudged into the kitchen at last and mumbled a _yes_ as he started towards the coffee. Ana went back to the pancakes while Jack made his coffee and sipped at it.

"Ah... Nothing like a good morning cup of Joe," Jack sighed, smiling into his mug.

"Who's Joe?" Ana asked jokingly.

"Hmm. He's one of the very few people I love. He keeps me happy." Ana 'hmm'ed without looking up. He stood next to her, looking out the window as the morning light got brighter and everything started turning greener. He turned and leaned backwards against the counter and they listened to Ana's music.

"Joe keeps me mellow most of the time," Ana commented.

"Liar." Ana looked at Jack.

"I'm serious! I'm one of those few people where coffee mellows them out! I get calm. Awake, but calm. I like it." Ana exclaimed. Jack stayed silent and dished himself some food.

"Why'd you go and cook this morning?" Jack asked. Ana shrugged.

"Sometimes I like to. Whenever I went to my dad's house, I'd always wake up before everyone. My internal clock wakes me up early. I always cooked breakfast on Saturdays for all my siblings, Dad, Gina, Grandma Ruey, and Uncle Stan." Jack didn't recognize all the names and he couldn't remember which one were her siblings.

Ana saw the question on Jack's face and answered it before he could ask. "Dad and Gina and the kids lived with Ruey and Stan. It's not really important though."

* * *

><p>Later in the day, after Ana had gotten dressed and had Roger clean the kitchen, she decided to visit Jack in the basement. Wuya was there, drifting about the various machinery. Ana remembered that the ghost witch hadn't joined her and Jack for breakfast.<p>

Ana brought down her laptop and her some notebooks. Jack was working on robots.

"How come you don't make different ones Jack?"

"Different what?"

"Different types of robots. You know, have a sort of variety of them and all. Try to achieve multi-levels of awesome?"

Wuya scoffed. Jack scowled in the general direction the sound came from. He answered Ana, "I'd have to draw up new plans and go through the development process again. Coming up with a new design would take months. And I don't have enough free time for that." Ana's answer was automatic.

"Well, what about me? I know some things you could do. I mean, I have ideas. I'm a think-tank all my own! I've got plenty to choose from that you could use. You just need to build them and figure out how they work."

"Okay, first: What's wrong with the robot's I have now?"

"The monks can already kick straight through them and they've hardly begun their training yet."

"O-ok," Jack faltered. "But, are you a certified genius?"

"Are you?" Ana countered.

"I could be..." Jack mumbled. "I'm a genius in my own right!"

"Or so he _claims_," Wuya interjected.

At this, Jack glared. At Ana, he said, "Alright, fine, bounce me some of your ideas." Ana sat at the stool across from Jack.

* * *

><p>"Okay. One of the better ideas I had is the BAND. It stands for Brain Acceleration Neural Device. At least, that's the best I could come up with to fit the acronym. But anyway, I was thinking that what the BAND would do is download anything learnable or memorable from a computer or program and "upload" it directly to the brain of a human being, so that they learn it instantly and can utilize it physically with their body."<p>

_This_ certainly peaked the red-head's interest. "Really? Go on."

"Well, take learning a foreign language. It's fairly easy to download language learning programs. I don't know anything in slightest about speaking Chinese. Seeing as we live in China, I think it would be best if I could not only speak and understand it fluently, but read and write it perfectly as well. This would be the simple experiment. Learning multiple languages and understanding each fluently and distinctively would be the easy part. Keeping track of each language and keeping them separate from each other would be harder. Which is why I think the BAND should strengthen the brain too."

"That's actually pretty cool, but what else could the BAND be used for? Hypothetically, of course." Jack asked. He had leaned against the table, facing Ana, with his head tilted and arms positioned on either side of him.

"Well, if the language thing goes well, we can move onto the more physical aspects of learning. The problem with that, though, is if you're not physically ready to utilized the knowledge you've gained from a download. If you're not physically ready to be exerted that far, you can't do it without hurting yourself."

"Whaddaya mean."

"Hypothetically, you would know how much to bend, or how much force is needed, or how to move, what motions to make, and how it would all tie together. But if you didn't have the balance, the strength, or the agility needed to perform those tasks, it would be useless knowledge until your body became ready to do those things."

"Okay, so we'd just have to let ourselves grow to that level by working out and practicing and building strength and all that crap. But are those the only two things this thing would do?" Jack asked, skeptical.

"No. Say you want photographic memory. The Band would be expected to do that for you. Think of the skills you learn through the BAND as memory files. They'd be ingrained into the neural center, forming deeper cracks and ridges in our brains, creating more surface area, making us smarter and allowing us more skills. The brain is just a different type of computer after all. One we only use about 10% of anyway. So we could download blueprints, maps, equations, instructions..."

"What about overloading? What if we upload too much and our 'computers' 'crash'?"

"I doubt that will happen, but I thought of it." Ana said matter-of-factly. She pulled out a piece of paper and sketched a mannequin head, and then what would be the BAND around it.

"See, I was thinking about how it would work. The BAND would generate Electromagnetic wave pulses on contact with the skin. It sends signals to this little chip transmitter that sticks to the back of the neck, like this." Ana sketched a little side-view of the head and added a tiny chip to the back of the neck. "It'll lay close to the spinal cord, at the cerebral cortex. The BAND transmits its information to the brain _through_ the chip, which relays it directly..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, that chip would act like a flashdrive," Ana got a blank look from Jack. "Um, memory-stick?" A look of recognition. "Ok, so the chip acts like a... memory-stick."**(1)** Interchangeable chips could each hold different types of information, grouped however they need to be, and when attached, the brain is able to 'borrow' the information specific to that chip temporarily."

Jack admired the plans and thought silently. After a few moments, he said, "I think it's a pretty good idea, except for the chips."

"What do you mean?" Ana asked. Jack pointed at the paper and took the pencil. As he sketched, he spoke.

"It would be too time consuming and too difficult to make multiple chips with different functions."

"So what do you propose we do then?" Ana asked. Jack stepped back a step and stretched, his back popping twice. He yawned.

"Instead of multi-purpose chips, I just need to make one for each of us, like this. It's only purpose would be to relay the information given to it, which is fairly easy. The information would come from an outside source but still be directed into the brain."

"What's the outside source?"

"Wrist BANDs. Memor-sticks hold information that's downloaded into them. The information can be utilized when it's tapped into. So while the BAND can 'install' permanent information, given it's used, the wrist BANDs can transfit information through the chip. Once the chip or wrist BAND is removed, no information is being transmitted and the information can no longer be used."

"OH! Okay, I get it exclaimed. So if I wanna download something that I'd use a lot, like a language, or fighting moves, or dance steps, I can use the BAND and be able to keep the knowledge. And as long as I _use_ what I download, then the nerve endings and synapses and all that junk won't disappear after a while.

"And if I wanted to download street maps and geography, or anything like that, then I'd would just wear a wrist BAND with the information I need and use it immediately. It would be subliminally telling me exactly what to do."

"Exactly! It's agreed." Ana got excited.

"So do you think you can do it?"

"Hell yeah! Now that the idea is made and I have a good idea of what I'll need to do with it, it'll be a piece of cake!"

"Do you want my help or anything?" Ana offered hopefully. Jack waved her off, already rushing around the lab for materials.

"No, you'll get in my way. No offense, but I work better alone on these things." Ana only shrugged.

"I'll be exploring then. Call me if you need me!"

"Don't go too far!" Jack called loudly. "If a Wu shows up, I'm taking you with me!"

"Relax!" Ana shouted, half-way up the stairs. "We got a few days yet 'til we're in Paris!" This jolted Jack and Wuya both, and they turned to question Ana. But she was already gone.

"Think she might know where the Wu is, Wuya?" Wuya shook her head.

"I think she knows which one it will be, and the general location of it, but not exactly..." Jack shrugged and turned back to his new project.

"Well, she's technically from the future. Her world is more advanced in time than ours, and they have some sort of omniscient thing going on there regarding us. So she would know certain things. But like she said, it's not like she can actually impart a lot of this knowledge to us directly. We just have to trust her. She's still useful, no matter what."

* * *

><p><strong>GUYS IT'S BEEN 5EVAR. I am officially OFF hiatus, not that I told you all I was even ON one...<strong>

**but yeah. I kept getting reviews and favs and bookmarks, so I felt a little guilty**

**If you wanna know the truth, I got into HOMESTUCK, and that's the reason why it took so long. I can't really focus so much on Xiaolin Showdown when my brain is on the Trolls and the Kids and my OTP. I follow about 70 people on tumblr too, so that kinda keeps me...**

**I know, no excuse, but you should try it! Try juggling aaaaaaaall of that, and school, and taking care of yourself BY YOURSELF, and thinking about college and making plans and trying to do about a thousand things at once and also you happen to be on meds for psychiatric purposes...**

**yeah, lots of stuff going on, on top of my typical procrastination.**

**Anyway, more chapters should be coming up. This story will be continued in more stories, so don't worry when it ends after Ana's first showdown.**

**Because there will be PLENTY MORE. :)**


	14. Hug withdrawal

****Short one this time guys. And I hate how Fanfiction has all this junk set up, so it's not easy to write here anymore. I can't even tell if what I'm writing is going to be in BOLD or what, or even if there's a line beneath this. *sigh* It's gonna take me a bit to get into this again. I'm pushing Homestuck out of my head. And I'm going to Tumblr less, so I can concentrate more. It's really hard.****

* * *

><p>Ana ran sock-footed through the house. She slid around corners, giggling and making a game out of avoiding the robots assigned to chore-duty. She knew that Jack had already informed them that she lived there and they were not to attack, but it was a game to play and Ana was a very playful person.<p>

She eventually found the kitchen again, and from there the stairs and main foyer. The welcoming hall was like a ballroom, with its high ceiling and giant chandelier. Ana found 3 robots cleaning the floors. Approaching them, she cleared her throat.

"Hello?" The robots stopped their work and looked up at Ana. She waved.

"Hi, I'm Ana. Do you know where Roger is?" They nodded. While they worked together, the robots had a sort of secret society. They talked and coexisted; they knew everything that went on in the house. "I'm looking for him, cuz I want him to come exploring with me. I need some company. Where is he?"

"Patrolling the hall to your living quarters, Miss Ana. He won't let anyone in, even to clean." one robot said. Ana's face lit up a little.

"Aww, that's sweet! But no offense, I don't want anyone else in my room, unless I'm there. I clean my own room, thanks." Ana left them to search for Roger. The robots stared after her. After a moment, one of them spoke.

"A teenager who actually cleans their room," one said.

"Who'd have thought it was possible?" said another.

"It's almost scary in a way," the third remarked. And then the 3 went back to work.

Ana found Roger pacing back and forth in the hallway in front of her door. When he saw her, he halted and saluted her in an almost comical fashion.

"Good afternoon Miss Ana. How may I serve you?" the automaton voiced. Ana regarded it with green eyes and a cocked eyebrow.

"You don't have to guard my bedroom like this. I appreciate it, but you don't _have_ to. As for serving me, I could do with some company right now."

The robot cocked its head in confusion. "Company?"

"Yes, company." Ana confirmed. "Jack is busy and I don't think Wuya trusts me enough to handle the Wu yet. I wanna go exploring outside. And I have serious problems with being alone too long in certain settings, so you're coming along with me. I'll need a few things from my room, so lemme get them and stay here."

Roger did as he was told and let Ana through. Ana made sure he wouldn't wander off, and then grabbed a sketchpad, some pencils, and an eraser, and she slid them into a vertical, thin, green cloth bag. She slung it over her shoulder, the decorative stripes and line designs cleverly camouflaging the tiger face hidden on the front. With the bag nestled under her right arm, Ana found her shoes, cellphone, and favorite sock-cap and traipsed out the door, waving for Roger to follow.

Once outside, Ana had Roger escort her all along the property. She was introduced into a small, neatly trimmed flower garden, complete with winding paths throughout. She found the outdoor pool with the nearby hot tub and thanked the sky for sunny and warm weather. Near the back of the property, Ana was amazed to find a tennis court. She wondered briefly what else was here that was never display in the show she had watched in her home dimension.

Between findings, Ana would look around and, when she felt like it, sit down and stretch. She was in a sketching mood and filled up pages with scenes from all that she could see. She drew many different perspectives of the mansion, from different angles and distances. At some point though, as was inevitable, Ana got tired of this and spent the rest of her time goofing off by herself.

Roger watched all this with what seemed like disinterest, but her closely recorded everything Ana did and saved it all to his memory, for later review. He slowly memorized the way Ana's hands moved across paper when they sketched, smudged, and shaded her drawings. Things he didn't understand about Ana were stored in a separate place for review in an effort to change that status.

There were a lot of things he didn't understand about Ana.

For instance, why did she randomly skip and jump at odd intervals when she walked? Why did she walk funny, with giant loping steps, and why, when she slowed down, did she suddenly stop jerkily to stare at something? Why did she suddenly start dancing for no reason, when there was no music? And then stop as suddenly as she'd start? And what exactly prompted Ana to just plop down on the grass, stone, or dirt, or wherever she happened to be standing and just _draw_? Roger's logical processor systems could not come up with any reasons for those actions.

Still, Ana danced and drew and hopped around happily until she and Roger hit the edge of the property, which ended at the entrance to the woods. Roger led her back to the house where she would spend the rest of her day.

By the end of the day, Ana had fully explored the inside of the house, the outside of the house, and the surrounding property. She had filled up several pages of her sketchbook with drawings of flowers, vases, artifacts, stone formations, and any other things she deemed important. It got to the point where Ana would sketch the inside of the house, the corridors, and the jackbots too.

She made her lunch and hung out with the chore-bots. She was surprised to find she could actually hold decent conversations with them and they talked of many things. Ana checked up on Jack several times throughout that day and wandered around with Wuya, who at times would come out of the basement to check up on Ana.

"How's the BAND coming along?" Ana had asked. Wuya only shrugged in her ghostly way and said nothing.

When Ana's arms began to twitch slightly and Ana began to squirm, the girl excused herself and departed for her bedroom. Wuya, suspicious and curious as always, followed discretely behind.

Ana flopped onto her bed and gathered her fuzzy blanket into her arms and curled around it. She sighed deeply and snuggle it, unaware that Wuya was watching. Wuya, for her part, merely rolled her eyes and was about to depart herself when Ana's robotic servant entered the room.

"Miss Ana, what are you doing?" Ana sat up, and little embarrassed to be caught lying down.

"Uhm, I was doing...something." Wuya floated through the wall.

"And what is that something?" she asked accusingly. Ana looked stricken and stammered.

"Oh fine!" she exclaimed after a few tries.

"I have an issue. I go through a sort of withdrawal. I'm pretty tolerant of it, because the amount of time between my doses is rather longer than I'd prefer, because of my mother, but it's been a while and I get anxiety." Ana paused, face red with embarrassment.

"I need hugs. Or at least human contact. Affection. That sort of thing." she mumbled.

Wuya facepalmed.

"Don't do that!" Ana protested. "I'm serious! If I don't get what I need, my breathing goes all weird and erratic,. I can't sit still, and I get serious anxiety! And then I'll be in pain, and my chest feels all exploded, and I need someone to hold me together, or I'll get depressed and angsty."

"So you hug your blanket like a little child?"

"Better than sneaking up behind Jack and suddenly glomping him, or going in for a hug and having him shove me off. I don't know Jack on a personal level, even though I know plenty about him. And he hardly knows anything about me! It's only been a day! I can't just hug him, it'd be impersonal and awkward and embarrassing!"

Wuya sighed. "I can't believe this..." she muttered.

Ana lowered her voice. "Wuya. Back home, growing up, I was hugged by my outer family enough to create a need for it, but not my mother, which created a psychological need for affection, and that affects my body. Don't judge me for something I can't control, because this isn't my fault." Wuya regarded her blandly.

"Fine. I won't bug you about and I won't tell Jack." Ana breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Wuya." Ana said, and she clutched her blanket tighter to herself. Her tension and anxiety disappeared, her chest loosened up, and she was able to breathe without hurting. Her head cleared and her heart stopped hammering, and everything suddenly felt much better.

Roger added his mistress's need for hugs to his ever growing pile of things he didn't understand.


	15. An Alternate PastFuture

**Another chapter for you guys. This one goes more into my characters' history, and what you'll miss in Traveler, since I'm not continuing that one. (I seriously don't have the heart, and I can't even remember my own story, seriously. I can hardly remember what I had planned for this one, dammit. Anyway, chapter 14.**

* * *

><p>Meanwhile...<p>

When the monks woke up the next morning, they were each lost in their own worlds, thinking and barely speaking. They did their chores without realizing it. They went through exercises, barely trying. Master Fong approached them, concerned.

Raimundo seemed a little sad and confused. His actions spoke of being rebuffed, but Master Fong hadn't scolded him. He was serious and he hadn't smiled or cracked a joke since last night.

Clay had a shadow over his face, and it wasn't because of his hat. As Master Fong watched, he sensed a deep anxiety, a sense of dark foreboding etched in his face. He noticed Clay kept his eyes toward the shadows, watching them warily, waiting for something. He probably didn't even notice he was doing it. There was clearly something troubling him.

Kimiko was more irritable than usual and she acted hurt. Her face was stuck in a sad pout, and she kept to herself as much as possible.

Only Omi seemed in a generally good mood, not troubled as his friends were. He was cheerful and happy. Master Fong watched him and noticed how he would often like up at the sky smiling and occasionally pat his head.

He could stand it no longer. "My young warriors, what is it that ails your minds this morning?" he asked them. They were in the courtyard, and Omi spoke up, "Nothing has troubled me today Master Fong."

"I know Omi. But something has happened to all of you. Your attention is not here where it should be."

Raimundo was the first to speak. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"I had a strange dream. It's mostly forgotten now, but there was this girl—," Raimundo began. He was cut off by his comrades' cries.

"Mine had a girl too!" Kimiko spoke out.

"Same here partners. 'Fact, there were three of 'em..." Clay mused.

"That is strange," Omi said. "My dream involved a girl, and she was with Jack Spicah."

Raimundo spoke again. "I don't remember very many details, but I had a vague feeling that Spicer was somehow involved. I got this nervous, flighty feeling thinking about it. All I remember is this girl being somewhere she shouldn't have been, and it messed me up in something important. We were opponents, but she was like, out there, not really supposed to be involved. I kept getting flashes of pictures and things, but I can't remember anything but a few things. It mostly involved the girl, but we were there too, and Jack, and two other people. Something light and something dark."

He pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes and groaned. "It's so frustrating that I can't remember, because I _know _it was _important_!"

I vaguely remember a tall blonde in my dream," Kimiko said. "But I think I made her up. I was focused more on Keiko. I kept getting the feeling I was losing her to someone else."

"I remember a good deal from my dream," Clay said. "The girl had blonde hair, and it was long—,"

"Same here!" Raimundo and Kimiko interrupted simultaneously. Clay continued on, "—and she had green eyes." Raimundo's eyes bugged out.

"Do you think we dreamt of the same girl? Mine had a few freckles, what about yours?"

Clay paused in thought, remembering. Or trying to. "I cain't remember if'n she did or didn't. Everything gets vague and fuzzy when you wake up from a dream. I'm surprised I remember as much as I do!"

"Tell us the rest, Clay." Master Fong prompted.

"Well, it started out at the barn at home. Somethin' drew me to it, and I found a girl inside. There was somethin' queer about the whole thing, cuz I felt scared of the barn. It was all dim an quiet. I got that distinct sense that somethin' was just so very _**WRONG**_. I was 'bout to find out what it was, when the blonde girl stopped me. Nearly scared me outta ma skin, she did. She was talkin funy; I got no clue what she was on about. There was somethin about the haystacks."

Clay, whose head had been bowed in memory, snapped up as he remembered a name.

"Morgan." he said. A shudder passed through Raimundo and a cloud began passing in front of the sun. It got dimmer. Raimundo's eyes closed, as if in pain. He and Clay started describing Morgan with sinister accuracy, alternating between the two of them.

"Dark hair"

"It was long, straight, and black. So black."

"Tall"

"Red eyes"

"I saw them. They glow."

"She's vicious."

"She's evil."

"She's pale."

"She's childish"

"pent up hatred and rage..."

"A cold voice."

"Demonic nature"

"She has a sister," Clay said. Rai looked up with wide eyes.

"I remember that bit! She's the polar opposite. White hair, blue eyes, really powerful?" Clay nodded solemnly. The others looked back and forth between the two boys.

"The girl explained some things to me at some point during the dream. Morgan can take over her body sometimes, I guess. I didn't understand most of what she said about that. But Morgan and Melody, that's the other one, apparently live inside her body in spirit form. Morgan is a Shade—,"

Master Fong drew a sharp breath and paled.

"The girl described her as a Shadow. Not _her_ shadow, but Melody's. Apparently, when Melody was born in whatever world she comes from, she was someone super special. Morgan came to life from the magic and darkness inside Melody, and they became separate entities. It was a really long story she told, but the gist of it was that Melody is the Guardian Light and Morgan is the Guardian Dark. From what I saw, she and Melody are closely linked to the green-eyed girl. They lived their past lives doing some duty for Fate or whatever. Long ago, they achieved immortal status. I don't know how it happened, but they were kept busy with a complex mission in their last life. Morgan referred to her as their "little Goddess"."

Raimundo was silent and Omi rubbed his head. "So confusing," he muttered. Master Fong processed this information.

"Please continue," he said softly.

Clay leaned in. "Here's the kicker. The girl had a part in creating Melody and Morgan. I didn't understand everything she was telling me about it, but I gathered that it had to do with the power of the mind. She's very intimate with them. They need her to live, and she needs them to be sane. It's all messed up. She has no control. I felt bad for her, cuz it was clear that she needs some help."

Clay paused, thinking.

"And then everything changed. The world blacked out, but Morgan and the girl were still there. We were all lit up. And Melody appeared.

"Part of me knows her. I know it's crazy, but a part of each of us knows her, because in some alternate version of this world, our world, the events of the time line are drastically different and yet the same. I was shown everything about that world, where Melody 1st came to us and we all grew up together. She vanquished evil and paid the price for tipping the balance so drastically. I got flashes just like you did, Raimundo, and I saw how everything played out."

"What happened?" Raimundo asked, strained. Clay was solemn as he addressed the group.

"We grew up. We moved back with our families when our training was done, we got married, had kids. Omi stayed here at the Temple and took over when Master Fong decided to retire. Kimiko married... Well, someone Melody managed to convert from the side of evil. He was good and he proved himself loyal, but I'd still rather not say. They had a daughter named Capri." Clay looked to Kimiko and continued.

"You and your father adopted Melody into your family. She was your adopted sister, so she was also Capri's aunt. She spent a lot of time with Melody where she lived.

"I married a Jewish girl, and we had twins. Melody married Raimundo and they had a daughter named Aura. We stayed in touch, our kids grew up together, and they were all gifted and taught in the art of elemental magic. We all went through life, even after Melody had to move on to her next world for her mission. It was a miracle that she was able to return as many times as she did, and we celebrated every time."

The others sat stunned at this onslaught of information. Clay continued.

"After Melody finished showing me all this, she gave me a message to remember and pass on: to remember all these memories and keep them for the future. They'll be needed.

Raimundo finally spoke. "I remember some flashes. Melody and Morgan are connected to the other girl, that part is true. But while your flashed were of an alternate past, mine were of the future. This world's future. Whoever this girl is, I've seen her fight and she's dangerous. She's unpredictable. She's decided to closely ally herself with Morgan and it'll show."

Clay spoke again. "She based Melody off herself when she was first created. Morgan came some time later, from Melody, and Melody developed on her own, without help. The girl and Melody stopped being so close, because Melody became her own person and freed herself of the girl. Morgan was eventually detached from Melody and was left behind with the girl. Morgan has latched herself to the girl. That's why something is wrong. That's why everything is wrong: She has the Guardian of Evil Incarnate living in her like a parasite."

Master Fong was grave when he spoke. "Do you know these things to be true, young warriors?" he asked. Raimundo and Clay nodded. Master Fong released a shaky breath. "Then the balance in the world has been further disrupted. These dreams came to you for a reason: to warn you of something worse than Wuya that has arrived. Something new that we've never seen before."

"I do not believe this is true."

The others looked to Omi, who had spoken. "I had a dream too. But it wasn't sinister or a warning of evil. It was a symbol of hope. Whatever event that has happened, all is not lost. There is more than one road to Fate. I have seen another path."

Master Fong nodded for Omi to continue.

"I do not believe either entity influences her everyday actions. She is her own person by herself, even if she is strange and just a little crazy. Those beings you spoke of Clay, they may exist inside her, but they are buried. For them to take hold, someone would have to uncover them. She is her own for now."

"What did you see?"

"I saw happiness. Love. Joy. Peace. I observed all the good inside this girl, which is why I know that she is not influenced as of yet."

Clay interrupted. "There was somethin else too. Her name... She came up with a fake name, but didn't want to tell me, so she chose Melody's. It don't matter what side she's on, she said, but names are powerful things. If she'd a taken Morgan's name, she claims it would've given Morgan more power over her. Even in her old world, she said Morgan could seep into her skin and take over her emotions and her body. I think that by taking Melody's name, she was trying to protect herself for that take over. Maybe Omi is right, but she's channeling Melody instead of Morgan."

"Either way, she's crazy in the head," Kimiko said.

Omi shook his head. "No! She was most definitely herself! If she's real, and it is very most likely that she is, then she's living with Jack Spicah." The others jumped up. Omi waved his arms, continuing.

"But! I don not think it is a bad thing! It's not a bad alliance! She is doing _good_ by being with him!"

"Good? How can that be good for us?" Dojo asked. "She's fighting for him, she's on his side, and she's dangerous!"

"She is teaching him," Omi said calmly. "She is teaching him to be _good_. She's teaching him how to live a good life. How to act, how to laugh, how to have fun... She was showing him how to let out his inner child, how to be free and happy, and to take joy in the simplest things in life. I saw her plan, and it's to make him _good_!"

Master Fong let the information sit in his head.

"Clay, where did Melody come from?"

"She came from a different world."

"And her purpose?"

"To achieve balance in the universe and change the time line. Fate employed her and her ancestors because there were inconsistencies and problems. Nothin is made perfectly and so needs a keeper. It was all confusin, so I couldn't really follow."

"But her mission was to change things from how they originally were, correct?"

"Yes."

"She knew our futures?"

"In the world she went to, yes. It was a different version of this world, but the time line was originally similar. Things were set up a little different there than they are here."

"Like how?"

"Dashi was the Traveler before her, and he was her father in the world she originated from."

"I see," Master Fong said. He sat gravely silent for a few moments, then spoke. "If the circumstances are correct, then this girl is still similar to Melody. She has come to this world and she is going to bring about a drastic change. For now, she is a supernatural entity to us. We don't know if she has power or magic, or what exactly she plans on doing. It is highly probable that she knows future events that will happen in this world, as Melody did before. But it is clear that this girl is important and she is _real_. Treat her with caution should you ever meet her."


End file.
